No takers for KCR’s third front idea: Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay

The BJP won four Lok Sabha seats representing nearly 30 assembly segments in the 2019 general elections in Telangana

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) hopes to return to power for the third consecutive term next year while the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seek to put up a tough fight. BJP state chief Bandi Sanjay spoke to HT about the polls and related issues. Edited excerpts:

Bandi Sanjay (HT PHOTO)

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) has been of late been attacking only the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. How do you look at this sudden shift?

KCR is an egoist. He treats all his political adversaries with contempt and underestimates the opposition parties. He never acknowledged the BJP as a major force. Even after the BJP won four Lok Sabha seats representing nearly 30 assembly segments in the 2019 general elections, he refused to acknowledge the BJP and continued to say BJP is a zero. But he knew that the BJP was growing strong. After the BJP’s victory in the Dubbak assembly by-poll, KCR still said he would not care for BJP. But in the elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) a couple of months later, KCR and his party attacked the BJP and tried to project it as a communal party and said it will indulge in violence on the polling day. Yet, we won 48 divisions, compared to 56 of the TRS. We could have captured the GHMC but TRS launched a negative campaign. After the BJP’s victory in the Huzurabad by-election in November, the chief minister has grown impatient as he could not digest TRS’s loss despite spending crores of rupees. He realised the people are inclined towards the BJP and started attacking the BJP.

Definitely. The BJP went to polls in Uttar Pradesh with the slogan of “double engine government,” telling the people about the need to have the same party in power both at the Centre and in the state. And it worked. Now, we are propagating the same in Telangana and are explaining to the people how the state would benefit if the BJP comes to power here. The TRS government has not been implementing the Central government schemes. It is diverting central funds...only because it will fetch mileage to the BJP and Modi. That is why we are telling people to vote for the BJP in Telangana...so it will be a double-engine government. We are asking them to give a chance to the BJP, as they have already experimented with Congress, TDP, and TRS.

KCR is planning to derail the engine at the Centre by floating a third front...

KCR has to take care of his own engine. His steering is in the hands of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by Asaduddin Owaisi. When he cannot operate his own engine properly, how can he expect to run the country? If he enters national politics, he will definitely hand over the steering of the country to Bangladesh or Pakistan. There are no takers for KCR’s third front idea. He has no credibility among the other parties and nobody believes him. Even [Tamil Nadu chief minister] M K Stalin did not invite him for his book releasing function in Chennai, where all the other regional leaders were present. Everybody knows how he betrayed Congress after the formation of Telangana and there is no guarantee that he would not do the same with others.

The BJP has spoken about sending KCR to jail in corruption cases. Is it just an empty threat?

No. We have gathered all evidence against KCR. But if the Centre orders any inquiry against him, everybody will say we are misusing the central agencies for a political witch-hunt. So, we want to approach the courts first and get the orders from them for an inquiry.

What is going to be your agenda for the elections in Telangana? Hindutva or development?

Obviously, development is going to be on our agenda. Whatever development Telangana has witnessed over the years, right from roads to housing to even graveyards, it is only because of the central assistance. We shall focus our campaign on this. Hindutva is our political ideology. We shall definitely talk about the interests of the Hindus, unlike the Congress or TRS, who are appeasing Muslims for votes. At the same time, we are not against Muslims, but against AIMIM, which is exploiting the poverty of Muslims for its political benefits. We shall talk about education, employment, wide roads, and metro rail in the old city of Hyderabad. The Muslim intellectuals are now questioning why AIMIM has not been able to develop the old city. We shall educate them on this. Remember in Uttar Pradesh, too, Muslims voted for the BJP because of the development taken up by the Yogi Adityanath government.

How far do you think your padayatra will help the BJP in the next elections?

It will definitely help me get closer to the people and understand their problems directly. What they want, what they think, and the kind of rule they are expecting. It will also help me give us assurance to the people BJP will stand by them in all their difficulties. During the padayatra, we shall explain to the people what schemes the Modi government is implementing and how the Telangana government is misleading them. In the first phase of my padayatra last year, I took up several issues like housing and unemployment. It was because of my fight that the government has announced the issuance of notification for filling up government jobs.

Who is going to be your chief ministerial (CM) candidate?

BJP will never announce any CM or PM candidates. Modi never thought he would become PM. I never thought I would become state BJP president. So, anybody can become Telangana CM, even if he is a booth-level party worker. Ours is not a family party, but a party of committed workers.