The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made massive inroads into Hyderabad, winning 48 seats in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls on Wednesday. The saffron party emerged as the second-largest party, only seven behind Telangana Rashtra Samithi's (TRS) 55 seats, and four ahead of the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen's (AIMIM) 44 seats - whose tally remained unchanged from the 2016 elections.
The BJP won 44 more seats this year compared to the last elections at the expense of the TRS.
Here are four reasons that could have lifted the saffron party's performance in Hyderabad civic polls:
High-profile party leaders campaigning | In what is possibly the first instance of the BJP's national president campaigning for a civic body election, Hyderabad played host to the likes of Home Minister Amit Shah, party president J P Nadda, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Union ministers Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar, and youth wing chief Tejasvi Surya, apart from Secunderabad MP and MoS, Kishan Reddy.
The larger picture - 2023 Assembly polls | The saffron party approached the Hyderabad civic polls in an aggressive manner, keeping in mind the larger picture. The BJP, who have never formed the government in the newly-formed state, have only two representatives in the Assembly and occupy four of the 17 Lok Sabha seats. The active participation in the civic polls is seen as a move to gear up for 2023 Assembly polls and the 2024 general elections, where they would ideally like to consolidate votes and better their tally. The Hyderabad civic body polls lay the groundwork to achieve the larger goal.
Widening the horizon | Barring Karnataka, the BJP has for long been viewed as a 'North Indian' party, with Telangana being no exception. In the hinsight, one could say that their win in the Dubakka bypolls was a precursor of what was to come, but it is still fair to say that a tally of 48 was unprecedented. The party's grand move to call national figures to talk about local issues such as transportation, flooding due to encroachment, and the contentious Bhagyalakshmi Temple row, seems to have helped them establish a connection with voters and garner more votes.
Anti-incumbency wave coupled with Congress's no show | There seems to have been a strong wave of anti-incumbency that has played right into the BJP's hands. Furthermore, Congress's inability to capitalise on the anti-incumbency wave seems to have further aided the saffron party's win. The anti-incumbency wave gave a huge blow to the TRS, who were down to 55 from 99 in 2016. They are also 10 short of the 65-seat mark to occupy the Mayor's post. The BJP, who will form the Opposition, find themselves in a strong position as TRS might be forced to reluctantly form a coalition with the AIMIM.
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