While BJP leaders have publicly stated that the city’s next mayor will be a saffron, party sources said they were aware that getting a majority in the civic body was not going to be easy. “We cannot realistically expect a leap in dimension like that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-Amit Shah’s BJP in Tripura when he took the party from zero to a majority in the state assembly,” said one leader.
BJP General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav, who has been appointed in charge of GHMC polls, said: “Many are puzzled and ask why BJP is so involved in local body elections. Truth be told, BJP invests in every opportunity to serve the people of the country anywhere, everywhere. For those who ask why, the answer is why not. ”
However, according to sources, the high-octane push in Hyderabad could actually be aimed at establishing the party as a factor in Telangana as a whole. Party tacticians feel that the ruling TRS could be on the decline, as the sentiment of gratitude towards its leader and chief minister, Chandrasekhar Rao, has evaporated due to the promotion of the ‘dynasty’, the alleged corruption, as well as the inefficiency and administrative excesses.
“We want to take Telangana and Hyderabad from dynasty to democracy, from corruption to transparency and from appeasement policy to development,” said the Interior Minister. Amit shah he said in Hyderabad on Sunday, making it clear that the party will not spare the CM and his family, who face corruption and foster care charges.
BJP’s surprising success at the recent Dubakka bypoll is seen as proof that the state may be getting out of “thanksgiving mode” when people massively favored the founder of Telangana. Dubakka shares borders with Gajwel, represented by KCR; Sircilla, her son’s constituency and IT Minister KT Rama Rao; and Siddipet, the stronghold of the CM’s nephew, Harish Rao.
In addition to the perceived problems of TRS, BJP, which surprised many by winning four seats in Lok Sabha in 2019, is also encouraged by the decline of Congress and the TDP. Congress did not win a single seat in the GHMC polls in 2016.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, in the election campaign for GHMC polls on Saturday, he had said: “Some people were asking me if Hyderabad’s name can be changed to Bhagyanagar. I said ‘why not?’ I told them we change the name Faizabad as Ayodhya and Allahabad as Prayagraj after the BJP assumed power in Uttar Pradesh. So why can’t Hyderabad be renamed to Bhagyanagar?
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