Telangana Cong gears up for direct fight with BJP, eyes 12 out of 17 LS seats

Hyderabad, Jan 21 (IANS) After capturing power in Telangana, the Congress party has set its eyes on the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and is gearing up for what is likely to be a direct fight with the BJP.

The ruling party intends to win 12 out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and thus contribute a good number to the national tally of the Congress-led INDIA alliance.

While the BJP is looking to go to polls once again with Modi as its prime ministerial face, the Congress hopes to counter this with its strategy to project itself and the INDIA bloc as the alternative to the saffron party.

The Telangana Congress has also upped the ante by inviting former Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, to contest the Lok Sabha election from the state.

Since the Congress is likely to go alone in Telangana, the leaders will have no hesitation in projecting their leader Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate to counter Modi.

During the election campaign, the Congress is likely to target the BJP over the alleged failures of the Modi Government on many fronts.

Political analysts say it may highlight issues like polarisation, price rise, unemployment, the problems faced by small businesses due to policies like demonetisation and GST and the government’s failure to come to the rescue of farmers.

The Congress party will also question the BJP on its commitment to Telangana’s development and highlight its failure to fulfil commitments made to the state under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

The Congress leaders will also question the BJP on why it did not order any probe in the last 10 years against the corruption scandals of the KCR-led BRS Government.

They are likely to once again cite this in support of their claim that the BJP and the BRS are hand in glove.

Recalling the Congress party’s promise in its election manifesto that it will probe all scams during the BRS’ rule, the BJP leaders are questioning the delay in ordering the investigations.

Terming the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project as the biggest scam of the BRS Government, state BJP chief, G Kishan Reddy asked why the Congress Government was not writing to the Centre seeking a CBI enquiry.

Kishan Reddy, who is also a Union Minister, offered that if the state government writes to the Centre, the CBI probe will be ordered within 48 hours.

“Is the Congress trying to save the culprits,” he asked. However, the Congress leaders hit back at him by asking what the BJP Government at the Centre was doing for the last 10 years.

“What were you doing for the last decade? The Congress formed the government last month and it has already ordered a judicial probe,” said Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. He was referring to the judicial probe ordered into the sinking of some piers of Medigadda barrage, a part of the Kaleshwaram project.

The Congress leaders point out that their government has also ordered a judicial enquiry into irregularities in Power Purchase Agreements with Chhattisgarh and also in Yadadri and Bhadradri thermal power projects.

The Congress will also highlight steps taken so far for implementation of the six guarantees given by it in the Assembly polls.

By implementing two promises, including free bus rides for women in state-owned TSRTC, the Congress has demonstrated its sincerity and intent to implement all the guarantees in 100 days.

As the government has already received applications across the state for implementing six guarantees and the 100-day period will come to an end before Lok Sabha polls, it will come under close scrutiny of the Opposition.

By setting the goal of 12 seats, the Congress has left five seats to its opponents. It is seen as an admission that the BJP might hold on to the four seats it won in 2019.

The AIMIM, which had been winning Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat for the last four decades, appears invincible in its stronghold.

The Congress enjoys the support of the CPI, which fought the Assembly polls in alliance with the party and won the lone seat it contested.

The CPI(M) had fought Assembly polls on its own after a seat sharing agreement could not be reached with the Congress. It is still not clear if both the Left parties will unconditionally support the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress will also have the backing of smaller parties like Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), which stayed away from Assembly polls and supported the grand old party.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who is also the President of the state Congress, has already held the first round of meetings with party leaders from all the districts, asking them to aim at winning at least 12 Lok Sabha seats.

He asked the leaders to work hard to ensure that the party secures more votes than it got in the Assembly elections.

As part of the preparations, he will start visiting districts after January 26.

Other Congress leaders would embark on visits to all constituencies to connect with voters at the grass root level.

In the 2019 elections, the Congress had bagged three out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Revanth Reddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy were elected for the Lok Sabha and all the three were elected in the recent Assembly polls.

The BRS had won nine seats in 2019 while the BJP had bagged four seats and the AIMIM retained one seat.

The Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and ministers have already been appointed as party incharges for the constituencies. The AICC has also appointed observers for all Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

In the recent Assembly elections, the Congress won 64 seats in the 119-member House. As the party failed to win a single Assembly seat falling in three Lok Sabha constituencies in and around Hyderabad, it will be focusing on this region in the Lok Sabha polls.

Reeling from defeat after being in power for 10 years, the BRS will try to project itself as the ‘true voice’ of Telangana people. The party faces a daunting task in countering both Congress and the BJP.

The BRS’ working President KT Rama Rao, who is leading the efforts to recover lost ground, stated that Telangana should vote for ‘Team KCR’ in Lok Sabha elections to make sure Telangana’s voice in Parliament is heard loud and clear.

Citing statistics related to questions asked by Telangana MPs in the 16th and 17th Lok Sabha, KTR claimed that this reveals how well the BRS MPs did in terms of questioning and demanding from the Centre the rights of Telangana people.