Hyderabad: The BJP’s alliance with Telugu Desam saw to its rout in Telangana. Had it gone alone, it could have done better.
This was the opinion of the majority at the first Telangana BJP state-level meeting to review the party’s electoral debacle in the 2014 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections here on Monday.
Some party leaders felt the BJP could have gained to an extent had it designated a CM candidate instead of Telugu Desam doing so.
Delay in finalising candidates, in-house sabotage and failure to cash in on party support to Telangana were also cited as other reasons by party leaders for the poor performance.
State BJP president G. Kishan Reddy, former Sikkim Governor V. Rama Rao, former Union minister Ch. Vidyasagar Rao, Dr K. Laxman and others attended the closed door meet.
Mr G. Kishan Reddy summed up the opinion of party leaders: “Delay in finalising the names of candidates in the Assembly elections also caused a dent in party fortunes. In addition, the alliance with Telugu Desam did not benefit us as was expected. This was the general impression among all candidates.”
Mr Kishan Reddy and many other Telangana leaders were opposed to an alliance with the TD in Telangana, but BJP national leaders like M. Venkaiah Naidu vetoed their opinion and forged an alliance in both Telangana and Seemandhra.
While BJP, which backed Telangana to the hilt and was part of TJAC, could win only five assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat, the Telugu Desam came to power in Seemandhra and won 21 Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.
Meanwhile, Mr Kishan Reddy said the party would contest the Medak Lok Sabha seat which fell vacant following the resignation by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
