Hyderabad: The national leadership of both the BJP and the Congress are not taking much interest in the Lok Sabha election campaign in the two Telugu states. In both states, neither the BJP nor the Congress has a winning chance.
Compared to the recent Assembly elections, national leaders of both the BJP and Congress have reduced their visits to the Telugu states. In the ongoing campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned only one day in the state for the national election, against two days for the state election in December last year.
BJP president Amit Shah addressed a public meeting at Nizamabad before the election notification was issued. He was scheduled to address public meetings at Karimnagar and Warangal on Thursday but cancelled both of them. He had addressed five meetings for the Assembly elections.
As far as the Congress is concerned, party president Rahul Gandhi campaigned for only one day in Telangana, addressing public meetings at Zaheerabad, Wanaparthy and Huzurnagar. During the Assembly elections, he had addressed several public meetings in addition to conducting road shows along with AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and several AICC leaders and chief ministers had campaigned during the Assembly elections. In the current Lok Sabha elections, except for Mr Gandhi, no prominent AICC leader has campaigned in the state.
The campaign will come to an end on April 9 for the the April 11 elections. The TPCC expects Mr Gandhi to visit Telangana on April 8 but this is not confirmed.
Telangana BJP leaders said that Mr Shah may campaign in Telangana on April 8. But the BJP has decided to release its manifesto at Delhi the same day, and Mr Shah may not visit Telangana, said BJP sources. In AP too, Mr Modi and Mr Gandhi addressed two public meetings each and Mr Shah campaigned on Thursday.
Sources in both the BJP and Congress said that the national leaders of their parties feel that instead of campaigning in Telangana and AP, it is better to concentrate on states where they have better chances of winning Lok Sabha seats. The BJP and Congress have no chance of winning even one seat in AP, but in Telangana, the BJP is expecting the Secunderabad and Mahabubnagar seats.
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