The stage is set for BJP national president Amit Shah’s visit to Telangana.
The BJP chief is ostensibly coming to meet people at the grassroots level and get first-hand information about the reach of the Narendra Modi Government’s programmes to the common man. But the main purpose of the meeting, according to BJP leaders, is to strengthen the party organisation from the grassroots level so as to present it as an alternative to the TRS in the next elections.
The selection of Nalgonda for Mr. Shah’s three-day sojourn too is said to be strategic.
Statue unveiling
The district, which had for long been a bastion of the Left parties, is gradually yielding space to others, including the Congress, and the BJP wants to gain from the changing trend. The importance attached to the visit could be gauged from the fact that Mr. Shah is scheduled to unveil the statue of Mysaiah Goud, a Backward Classes leader from Theretupalli village who was slain by the naxalites in the late 1990s.
Party sources said interaction with the Goud’s family members and residents of the village was aimed at sending signal that due recognition would be given to those who strove for the party while it would also help attract the youth not inclined to join the Left wing parties into the party fold. Mr. Shah is said to be keen on educating the party leaders on the ways to strengthen the organisation from the polling booth level and his Nalgonda visit is expected to lay down a road map for the State leadership in the run-up to the next elections.
The party State leadership has also included Gundrampally, a village where over 150 youths were killed and dumped into a well by Razakaars, the Nizam’s private army, during the struggle for liberation of Hyderabad state, in Mr. Shah’s itinerary for May 24. In addition to his interaction with residents of the villages about the implementation of the programmes launched by the Modi Government, Mr. Shah is expected to address meetings of intellectuals, representatives of educated sections and others to evolve modalities for building up the party organisation.
Mr. Shah would arrive at Hyderabad on May 24 evening and is scheduled to hold a meeting of the party leaders and workers, especially those from Assembly constituencies in the old city like Karwan from where the BJP won the elections in the past. The meeting, sources said, was aimed at consolidating the vote in favour of the BJP and keeping a check on the MIM which has been continuing its streak of victories for the past two decades.
