“Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is funding the Congress campaign... Congress cannot get funds to implement its promises, as it is not in power at the Centre. BJP alone has the capacity to develop the State on all fronts with a double-engine government with generous funding from Centre, so please vote for the Lotus.”
This is TS BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar going on a verbal offensive against KCR in his usual attacking style. Wait! This is not in Telangana, this is in Bengaluru suburbs where the BJP leader has been campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly elections.
More than a dozen TS leaders and many other ‘divisional’ leaders from districts adjoining Karnataka have been drafted for the no holds barred, high voltage campaign for elections by the Central leadership which has become crucial for both the BJP and the Congress Party with the Janata Dal (S) possibly playing the critical third party role.
“KCR has threatened to campaign here but is holding meetings in Maharashtra because no is bothered about him here but he is distributing money. Wonder where he will go for the general elections,” Mr. Sanjay ridiculed, during a break from his campaign.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar said the focus of TS leaders was on about 50 constituencies where Telugu people have a considerable presence to try and influence them to back the saffron party in what is being touted as a close race to the finish. The BJP Telangana president is sticking to his usual street corner meetings and has been mostly speaking in Telugu with a smattering of Hindi to communicate with the masses.
“We are telling people why they should not waste their vote on Congress as it will use Karnataka to loot whereas if our party is elected a double engine government will take it on the development path. We are also cautioning people about the Muslim quota making a comeback if Congress comes to power. We are getting a good response,” he said, on phone.
His senior colleague and Rajya Sabha MP K. Laxman has been camping in Bellary region. “Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, social justice and direct benefit transfers apart from Congress corruption are our campaign issues. We have been doing door-to-door campaign and preparing for two pubic meetings of Mr. Modi at Hospet and Bellary. We expect his presence to swing votes in our favour,” he said.
The TS BJP leaders, including D.K. Aruna, P. Sudhakar Reddy, Vivek Venkatswamy, G. Manohar Reddy and others, are already involved in the campaign while Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of Northeast G. Kishan Reddy is expected to make his presence soon. These leaders are swarming around Hyderabad-Karnataka regions of Raichur, Bidar, Gulburga, and Yadgir, Chikbalpur, Belgaum, Kolar and other regions where Telugu entrepreneurs and employees form a sizeable vote bank.
