The Bharatiya Janata Party has initiated steps to strengthen its presence in Telangana with its national president Amit Shah undertaking a three-day sojourn in Nalgonda district, a hitherto Communist bastion.
The BJP leaders made elaborate arrangements for the visit of the party president who interacted with people to gain first-hand information about the implementation of Central Government’s schemes here.
Though his criticism of the TRS Government for its alleged failure to take the spree of Central schemes to grassroots level appeared mild, the message was that the BJP was eyeing its share in the political pie in the district following the perception that the Left and the Congress had considerably weakened.
Mr. Amit Shah distributed pamphlets relating to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government’s three-year achievements and faced requests from the people, mostly pertaining to water, roads and old-age pensions.
He made it a point to paste stickers of Deen Dayal Upadhyay on the doors of close to 10 houses he visited to mark the tour which was part of the party’s expansion drive and repeatedly appealed the people to join forces with the BJP which was the only party that could fulfil their aspirations.
The tour was planned under the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Karya Vistaran Yojana, the scheme aimed at taking the party to the areas where it was not so strong.
Given its marginal presence in the village, the BJP leadership had to mobilise artistes from places as far as Karimnagar to entertain the booth-level workers who awaited Mr. Shah’s arrival.
During his visit to Theratpalli, a stronghold of the CPI (M), sarpanch D. Ramulamma, a staunch TDP sympathiser, accompanied him throughout and felicitated him.
The BJP national president participated in the community lunch organised on the occasion and the party leaders took enough care to ensure that there was significant presence of dalit and weaker sections women in the event.
His interaction with weavers of the village showed the BJP’s inclination to focus on roping in the backward classes who constitute a significant chunk in Telangana.
