NAVEENA GHANATE
Hyderabad
Keeping in mind the interests of migrants who are mostly IT sector employees, the BRS acknowledged the arrest of Chandrababu Naidu but distanced itself from it.
With elections nearing, the TDP secured 3.5% votes in 2018 in spite of the TRS wave. Even though the TDP has no chance in Telangana, the BRS is worried about the dent it would cause in their vote banks and lead to a swing like in 2018.
The TDP’s vote share appears small, but it can still have a bearing on BRS’ prospects especially when reports are coming in of the Congress gaining massively in about 40 seats.
In 2018, there was a swing of voters from the TDP to the INC in LB Nagar, TDP to TRS in Serilingampally, Qutubullapur, Kukatpally, Ibrahimpatnam and Jubilee Hills.
Currently, all these are held by BRS leaders. In these constituencies transfer of vote happened from TDP to other parties. These areas have a large migrant population and IT employees. They are generally inclined towards the TDP.
The BRS has been actively showcasing the progress under their regime to tone down the impact of IT that Chandrababu claims.
Minister Harish Rao said in Siddipet. “The state is leading in all fields. Unfortunately, Chandrababu Naidu seems to have been arrested. May be we should not talk about it but in the past he used to say IT. But under the leadership of KCR, IT has developed in Hyderabad and agriculture in villages.”
Meanwhile, the BRS of AP wants to maintain distance on the issue. Thota Chandrashekar, the AP BRS chief said, “Nowadays, Andhra Pradesh is well-known for vengeance, factionalism and corruption politics. There is no development or economic growth. What a pity! Once AP used to be the richest state in the country and it fell from grace to disgrace. I wonder why people are tolerating these two political parties instead of throwing them into the Bay of Bengal. We need a new leadership to get out of this mess.”.
