As the schedule for the State assembly elections is released and the countdown to polling begins, while the car is running in top gear, the opposition parties have not yet started the race. Under the leadership of CM KCR, BRS is rushing into the campaign with a strong determination to achieve a hat-trick of victory this time. As soon as CM KCR announced the list of 115 candidates on August 21, all the candidates of that party started campaigning. The whole cadre has been on the ground for almost 50 days. They are moving forward with the confidence that success is theirs.
On the directions of CM KCR, the meetings organised by ministers KTR, T Harish Rao and others for the past week have been getting a special response from the people. Opposition parties are still unable to finalise their candidates. Congress and BJP have not declared at least one candidate so far. Leftists and other minor parties are not even in the race.
Congress and BJP are dilly dallying over the list of their candidates. The Congress leaders who started the rush of applications for tickets many days ago are now wasting time in Delhi saying that the applications are being screened. The internal fights for tickets are on the rise in Congress. Seeing that tickets are decided in Delhi, dharnas are held in Delhi and Galli for tickets.
Especially the BJP’s situation is very bad as the party cannot find candidates for 119 seats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah, Party National President JP Nadda and other Union Ministers visited Telangana addressed meetings, but the results are not visible. The BJP’s internal surveys show that the vote bank is falling day by day. As a result the seniors in the party are fearing to compete in the polls even as the Delhi leaders have ordered MPs and former MPs to contest the assembly elections. It has now become a big task for the BJP to field candidates in all the seats.