BJP's Strategy Succeeds In Hyderabad, Sees Massive Gains
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-12-05 02:23:27
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
View all posts by this Author
After a high-decibel and polarizing campaign for the GHMC elections which saw the BJP top brass hit the trail in Hyderabad, it seems the party has achieved the desired results. The final tally shows that the TRS won 55 wards (down from the 99 it held earlier), the BJP 48 (4) and Asaduddin Owaisiâs AIMIM 44 (44). The Congress could not improve upon its tally of 2 wards.
This represents a 12-fold gain for the BJP which was practically non-existent in the region before these polls. This time, though, the party saw the opportunity as the popularity of the TRS has gone down due to misgovernance (especially during the recent floods in the city) and charges of nepotism. A majority of the seats won by the BJP came from wards that were badly affected by the floods. Interestingly, the party also won 6 seats in the Muslim-dominated Charminar division.
But providing better civic amenities was not the main thrust of the high-voltage campaign unleashed by the BJP in these local polls. Its strategy was to paint KCR and his family as promoting dynastic rule, highlight the shortcomings of the TRS, polarize the electorate by bringing up Jinnah, Pakistan and Muslim-dominance and try to show that the TRS and the AIMIM were together. Since the BJP had won 4 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana in 2019 and recently won a prestigious bypoll from Dubakka, a seat that falls in an area where KCRâs family usually calls the shots, it knew that its chance had come to get a foothold in the south and it executed its plan well.
Although the TRS will manage to get its own mayor with support from the AIMIM and although K T Rama Rao, chief minister KCRâs son who was in-charge of these elections, has tried to put up a brave face, the party has realized that its honeymoon with the voters (as the architect of Telangana) is getting over fast. It has to do a makeover and win back the peopleâs trust if it has hopes of winning the 2023 state elections for the BJP will surely up the ante and go after it in the hardest way possible.
