Opinion: BJP Disinterested Or Disintegrated In Telangana?

The Bharatiya Janata Party's strategy in Telangana has proved to be a conundrum for most political enthusiasts in the state. One needs to observe the party's journey since 2021 to form a nuanced opinion.

Post BRS (then TRS) bagging a second term in 2018, the Congress party faced an existential crisis in the state and had to face the brunt of forging an alliance with TDP, a party that fought against the formation of Telangana.

The Congress Legislative party was subsequently merged with the TRS in 2019 by 12 out of the 18 MLAs who managed to win in 2018. In 2019, BJP managed to secure 4 out of the 17 LS seats, thereby denting the TRS immensely.

Soon after, the BJP saw an opportunity and went onto seize it. In 2020, the GHMC elections made it to national headlines. 6 Chief Ministers and multiple Union Ministers campaigning for Municipal Corporation elections was unheard of. Much to everybody's surprise, the BJP managed to increase their tally by a staggering 1100%, the party went from 4 to 48. The BJP winning the Dubbaka and Huzurabad bypolls in 2020 and 2021 respectively, kept the saffron wave going. The chatter around BJP cementing itself as the principal opposition in the state as dethroning Congress had begun and numerous media reports followed. The sentiment slowly started making it to the minds of voters as well.

The BJP needed work to be put in to ride the wave, the party being limited to Hyderabad in terms of influence and cultivating a potent pool of workers and leaders across 119 consittuencies was the need of the hour. This is when it all went wrong for the 'election machine' that is unparalelled according to many. The state unit failed to capitalise and left enough vaccum for the Congress party to make a comeback. It became evident that factions within the state unit and the lack of 'interest' from the high command to settle things had led to the party disintegrating once again. Individual candidates were seen picking up issues that concerned them or their consitutency but the party as a whole was no where to be seen. Kishen Reddy replacing Bandi Sanjay as the state president before the assembly elections in 2023 didn't go down well either.

While the party managed to increase its tally from 1 in 2018 to 8 in 2023, rising to the level of being called the 'principal opposition' 18 months before assembly elections and eventually falling to enter double digits should be termed as a major disappointment. The lack of will from the high command clubbed with the incompetence of local leaders who depended on the Delhi for guidance and the resurgence of Revanth Reddy led Congress pushed the party into irrelevance once again.

In 2024, the party bagged 8 out of the 17 Lok Sabha seats, doubled its tally. BRS failed to open its account. However, one can only see history repeating itself. While MPs are busy minding their respective jobs, the party as a cohesive unit has gone missing for the second time in 4 years. Irrespective of who is to be blamed, failing to step up when BRS was at its lowest since 2014 and disintegrating to this extend speaks volumes about the lack of necessary ingredients required for any political outfit in any state to do better each day, year or election.

The appointment of a new president and anticipated organisational changes could result in evoking a new-found energy that the party desperately needs but one thing is for sure, if the present state of affairs continues for the foreseeable future, the party is bound to push itself into a darker tunnel.