BJP makes steady inroads into north Telangana's hinterland

Though the BJP's bigwigs had lost in the just-concluded Assembly election in Telangana despite the last minute campaign blitzkrieg, some key announcements and careful selection of candidates, the saffron party had put in a decent show compared to 2018 polls.

BJP in the 2018 polls lost deposits in 105 of the 119 Assembly segments in the state and won only one seat.

Cut to 2023, BJP had retained its Ghoshamahal seat and won seven others. The party also stood in the second position in at least 18 segments. In a few more seats BJP candidates stood a strong third by polling a good number of votes. BJP could this time secure its deposits in more than 40 seats.

However, BJP's three sitting MPs - Bandi Sanjay, Dharmapuri Aravind and Soyam Bapurao - lost the polls, in a major embarrassment to the party.

BJP lost Dubbaka, and also Huzurabad seat the party had won in bypolls in the past. In a shocker BJP's Backward Class (BC) face, Eatala Rajender, lost Gajwel where he had contested against KCR and also his Huzurabad seat.

BJP's better strike rate came from north Telangana and also Hyderabad region. The party which had polled only 6.98 per cent of total votes in 2018, but doubled its vote share this election at 13.90 per cent.

“The most notable factor in these polls is that BJP could make in roads into rural parts of north Telangana. It is here BJP had won new seats and also had a good performance by standing in second position. Rural parts have been untouched areas for BJP until now in Telangana. Now, I think it will change,” political analyst Raka Sudhakar told DH.

Of the eight seats BJP won, seven came from north Telangana and noticeably they are all communally-sensitive areas. The winners are also either first timers or newcomers into the party. Most strikingly, BJP's K Venkata Ramana Reddy defeated BRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao and PCC chief A Revanth Reddy in Kamareddy and emerged as a giant killer.

BJP won Armoor, Nirmal, Sirpur Kagaznagar, Adilabad, Mudhole, Nizamabad urban and retained Goshamahal.

Party candidate Anil Jadhav defeated Soyam Bapu Rao with 22,800 votes in Boath segment. Nizamabad MP Arvind lost to BRS candidate Juvvadi Narasinga Rao from Korutla.

Former Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar lost to the member of KCR's cabinet, Gangula Kamalakar, in Karimnagar.

Besides Gajwel and Kamareddy, another keenly watched Assembly segment in Telangana polls was Karimnagar, which was seen as a 'battleground' constituency by the pollsters due to several factors.

Another prominent BJP leader Eatala Rajender lost to BRS candidate Padi Kaushik Reddy in Huzurabad with 17,158 votes.

BJP had also put in special efforts in selecting the candidates and voters also appear to have acknowledged it. Many newcomers were also given tickets. BJP's top guns Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and other national-level leaders visited Telangana multiple times for campaigning. Even before the announcement of the poll schedule, Modi visited Telangana and addressed two public meetings.

After the schedule was released, he visited Telangana for five days and addressed eight public meetings. As a parting shot just before the campaigning ended on November 27, he participated in a mega roadshow in Hyderabad.

Amit Shah had visited Telangana eight times and addressed 17 public meetings and seven roadshows.

Announcement on OBC CM and Modi attending Madiga's meeting also helped the party to improve its performance.