Amit Shah sets his sights on Telangana civic elections

HYDERABAD: Taking the first major step towards capturing power in Telangana in 2023, BJP president Amit Shah cast his eyes on the forthcoming municipal elections and winning a majority of the wards. To begin with, he will meet a team of 20 state party office-bearers in Delhi and lay out a clear roadmap to defeat the ruling TRS in the civic polls.

The 20-member team will leave for Delhi soon and work out booth management and poll strategies under Shah’s direction. “The office-bearers will meet our national president before he visits Telangana again to oversee the party membership drive ahead of the municipal polls in the first week of August,” a senior BJP leader told TOI. Sources said Shah held a detailed discussion with the state leaders on the upcoming elections during his recent visit to Hyderabad.
Party spokesperson M Raghunanandan Rao said the party chief is very keen on winning the civic polls. “He (Shah) told us that since we are very strong in urban areas, not getting a good result in the muncipal polls will send a wrong signal among the party cadres. He wants us all to take collective responsibility of ensuring a sure shot win in the August polls,” he told TOI.
The visit of the leaders to Delhi will be followed by conducting workshops for party in-charges in municipalities. The in-charges will be trained on local issues like bad roads, overflowing drainage and garbage spill. “What Shah is going to do this time round is to replicate the Gujarat model of booth management with an eye on bagging as many wards as possible,” a senior leader, who is actively involved in booth management, told TOI.
For each booth, there will be a ‘panna in-charge’, party sources said. This would mean each page of voter list will be monitored by a party leader from the booth management committee. Each booth will have 10 young leaders, who will be given a smart phone and a motorbike.
Shah has also asked the state BJP unit to ensure that each booth will have 50% of party sympathisers as members.
“We are also looking at luring candidates of other parties who have lost in the recent local body elections and those who did not get an opportunity to enter the fray. ,” the leader explained.
The central party leadership has also given clear instructions to local leaders to enrol members from all castes during the ongoing membership drive.
“We do not want to send a message among people that BJP is meant for only upper castes. In case, we don’t get representation from some communities, we are asking local leaders to get them enrolled. Focus is also enlisting women members,” he added..