Chennai: Chennai and several pockets dominated by Telugu voters in the state could hope to hear the campaign of the BJP leaders in their own mother tongue. BJP leaders from five districts in Andhra Pradesh have descended upon Kamalalayam to work out a campaign strategy for TN.
The leaders including former state president of Andhra Pradesh unit Chellakam Ramachandra Reddy will begin their tour of the state from Chennai next week. “They will visit several pockets including Madurai, Coimbatore, Hosur and Thali and intensely canvass for the BJP till the election in May,” says BJP state executive member Venkata Rao.
The basic idea is to appeal to the Telugu voters in their own mother tongue and convince the linguistic minority electorate to vote for the BJP, which could shield their interests at national level.
“The Telugus constitute about 40 per cent of the state’s population and it could make a big difference if their votes are consolidated for our party,” he added.
The representatives from Chittoor, Kadapa, Nellore, Anantapur and Prakasam conferred with BJP national general secretary P. Muralidhar Rao and State general secretary S. Mohanarajulu at Kamalalayam here on Thursday to work out an action plan.
The BJP is unlikely to approach the voters with a promise of freebies. This is the first time the saffron party has hit upon the idea of appealing to the linguistic minorities.
More than the BJP, several parties in the state including the ruling AIADMK, DMK, Congress, DMDK and MDMK have Telugu leaders and hence the choice of the linguistic minorities in the state’s electoral history has been diverse.
