Bharatiya Janata Party’s Telangana unit is targetting to win at least 10 parliament seats of the 17 in the General Elections of 2019 and as many Assembly seats required to form a government here by fighting alone.
“Our national president Amit Shah has been categorical about we contesting without any alliances and we are confident of reaping the anti-incumbency sentiment among the people against the TRS government,” said BJP Telangana chief K. Laxman on Wednesday.
Dr. Laxman, who will be kicking off a week-long ‘Telangana Liberation Yatra’ from Hyderabad to Mahabubnagar from September 1, was emphatic that the party can pull it off despite having a not too a great record because of the performance of the “Modi Government at the Centre, BJP policies and disillusionment” among the people with the three-and-a-half year rule of the government here.
People’s aspirations
“Telangana people have experienced the Congress rule and the Telugu Desam base has got eroded so they are looking at us with a renewed hope. If we can do it in Assam and Manipur, why can’t we come to the power here too? We have our own strategies on how to keep the momentum going in the next couple of years,” he affirmed, adding “Governments can cooperate for governance but the fight will be political.”
Interacting with newspersons, the BJP leader said several Union ministers will be participating in the Telangana State tour and it will culminate in a public meeting to be addressed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The BJP will welcome leaders or elected representatives from other parties in case they are attracted by “our policies and Central government rule” but sitting legislators or MPs will have to resign before joining.
Against defection
“We have been against defection of MLAs from the Opposition to the ruling party in both AP and TS without quitting the seats. For instance, we lost in Delhi after an AAP MLA defected to our party but he had to quit and contest again only to lose. We have accepted it,” he said.
Dr. Laxman lambasted the TRS government for going back on its vow to celebrate the Telangana Liberation Day on September 17 and pointed out that several Muslims too had sacrificed their lives during the fight against the Nizam tyranny and during the Razakar’s movement.
“It is necessary to remind people of this generation about the Telangana history. You cannot wipe it away. We will celebrate it officially when we come to power,” he added.
