Amit Shah declares Telangana as BJP's next target in south India

HYDERABAD:  Stating that their next target in south India after Karnataka was Telangana, BJP president Amit Shah declared that he would take full responsibility for the victory of BJP in Telangana Assembly elections. In a brief interaction with BJP leaders, who saw him off at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Sunday night, Shah said that the prospects of BJP were better in Telangana.

Shah also made it clear that BJP-TRS relations were limited to government-to-government business between the Centre and the state. “We are ready for elections anytime. BJP will go alone in Assembly elections. We will implement perfect plans in the state to win the elections. Shah told us that BJP will come to power in Telangana,” BJP state president K Laxman said.

“Shah told us that BJP will come to power in Telangana, as it came to power in Assam and Haryana,” Laxman said. Shah would sound the poll bugle either on September 12 or 15 at a public meeting in Mahbubnagar. The BJP national executive committee meeting to be held in Delhi on September 8 and 9 would exclusively discuss the Telangana Assembly elections.

BJP national and Karnataka leaders will tour Telangana soon. The BJP is planning to organise Assembly segment-wise meetings in all the 119 segments. “The TRS is in cahoots with the MIM. BJP is the only alternative to free the state from MIM-TRS collusion,” Laxman told reporters here on Monday.

Commenting on the Pragathi Nivedana meeting, Laxman said that though the TRS poured crores of rupees, the attendance in the public meeting was very low and the crowd did not even cross three lakhs. The Uttar Pradesh BJP public meeting which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the biggest one and the TRS’ public meeting was not a match for BJP’s Uttar Pradesh meeting, Laxman said.