Hyderabad: BJP senior leaders who lost the recent Assembly elections with small margins may try their luck in the Lok Sabha elections next year. The BJP won only one seat though it contested all 119. Party leaders believe that voting in the general elections will be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies and expect a different outcome in the state.
Though they have claimed EVM tampering among others worked against them, BJP leaders say the Assembly elections revolved around local issues. The general elections will be between Mr Modi and the Congress alliance, and the BJP will fare better, they believe.
Speaking to this newspaper, BJP state president Dr K. Laxman said, “If the party orders us to contest in the general elections, we are ready to fight. The people know how BJP candidates were defeated in the recent polls. The TRS followed several unethical means. There were many irregularities in the EVMs.”
“We are sure that the people of Telangana have not rejected the BJP but EVMs was what defeated us. The BJP is sure that it will have a different result during the general elections which will be about the national interest. Undoubtedly BJP seniors will be ready to contest,” Dr Laxman said.
The BJP’s record in the Telugu states is not impressive. In 2014, the BJP in alliance with the TD contested eight of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and won one, Mr Bandaru Dattatreya from Secunderabad, despite the ‘Modi wave’.
This time, pre-poll surveys indicate a TRS victory in the LS elections. BJP leaders, however, say the situation will be different in 2019. “The 2014 elections were on Telangana sentiment. Besides, the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections were held jointly. That helped the TRS. Now, the people will think of the nation before voting. Despite the surveys, the BJP will win a decent number of Lok Sabha seats from Telangana,” Dr Laxman said.
