Can Narendra Modi's Hyd visit revive BJP's chances in South India?

Hyderabad, Aug 11: The BJP will look forward to revive its chances in southern India with its chief of the 2014 poll campaign committee Narendra Modi's mega youth rally here on Sunday. The BJP suffered a humiliating loss in the neighbouring Karnataka in the assembly polls in May and does not have a government in either of the four south Indian states.

The Congress, on the other hand, is in a bad shape in Andhra Pradesh, where it performed very well in the 2009 parliamentary elections, and decided to bifurcate the state recently to save its face electorally. It was also aimed at negating the BJP's aggression on the Telengana question.

Will the formation of Telangana help the BJP or harm its cause in the next Lok Sabha and assembly polls? According to sources, the BJP is aiming for 10 Lok Sabha seats in divided Andhra Pradesh (six in Telangana and four in Seemandhra). Telangana will have 17 seats while Andhra/Seemandhra will have 25 seats.

The BJP earnestly hopes that Modi's visit to these politically disturbed areas will help it make some gains. Party president Rajnath Singh said during his recent visit to Hyderabad that the BJP aims for at least five seats in Andhra and the number could go up to 10 if the party puts up a hard work.

The BJP's probable candidates in Telangana are: Nagam Janardhan Reddy (Mahboobnagar), Banadaru Dattatreya (Secunderabad), Muralidhar Rao or CH Vidyasagar Rao (Karimnagar), N Indrasena Reddy (Malkajigiri), Baddam Bal Reddy (Hyderabad). In Seemandhra, Krishnam Raju could contest from Rajahmundry while candidates from Nellore, Tirupathi and Hindupur were yet to be thought about.

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