Upcoming Assembly polls crucial for BRS, BJP in TS

SNCN ACHARYULU
Hyderabad

The upcoming Telangana Assembly elections are going to be crucial for the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the former open to making new friends and the latter preferring to go it alone.

BRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, hopeful of making a hat-trick, is making all-out efforts to fight with BJP.  From the time of the recent Munugode Assembly by-election, the left parties have become friendly with BRS. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) is already friendly with BRS.

It appears that the BJP is over-confident about winning the forthcoming Assembly elections. BJP TS unit president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar declared recently that his party would contest alone in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections.

At present, in Andhra Pradesh BJP and Jana Sena have alliance. Jana Sena president and power star Pawan Kalyan has fans in both Telugu states. Whether the alliance between BJP and Jana Sena will continue in AP till the next Assembly elections in that state is not yet clear. Still, the BJP leadership is trying to maintain the alliance with Jana Sena in AP. Bandi Sanjay clarified that the alliance between BJP and Jana Sena would be confined to AP. In Telangana, BJP will not have alliance with Jana Sena.

In Telangana, Jana Sena may not have strength to win some Assembly seats on its own. But alliance with Jana Sena will help BJP in winning some seats in the crucial Telangana Assembly elections. However, Telangana BJP has not shown any interest to have alliance with Jana Sena.

A senior BJP leader said:”In Telangana, the BJP has the strength to come to power on its own in the next Assembly elections.The BJP can win the required number of Assembly seats to form the government by contesting alone. If we have an alliance with Jana Sena, BJP may win some more seats.But Pawan Kalyan will take credit and claim that due to his support only BJP came to power in Telangana. BJP is not ready to give its credit to others”.  
Meanwhile, another reason may be that the BJP is not sure about continuation of its alliance with Jana Sena in AP. Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan has said repeatedly that he will not allow a split in anti-establishment votes.He conducted a meeting on Tuesday at Vijayawada which was attended by TDP, CPI, CPM, Congress and Jana Sena.

BJP stayed away from this meeting. The leaders of parties that attended the meeting gave a call for a joint fight against YSR Congress in the next Assembly elections.They expressed the hope that BJP also might join their group by the time of the next Assembly elections.

There are indications that Jana Sena might join hands with TDP. Keeping this in mind, the Telangana BJP might have been taken a decision not to have alliance with Jana Sena in the Telangana Assembly elections.