'BJP will capture Telangana; we are strong': Amit Shah to PM Modi

After concluding his three-day visit to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, BJP Chief Amit Shah on the four digit RAX special phone briefed Prime Minister Modi soon after his return to New Delhi. 

"This is how Amit Shah keeps PM informed of the organisational matters. There is a good synergy between them," a senior BJP General Secretary said while talking to this correspondent.

Amit Shah's visit to Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana last week created a political furore. Shah having lunch with Dalits in Telangana and his fierce attack on TRS chief KCR has rattled the state government.

Without mincing words, he said that the Telangana Government has failed to implement the Centre's schemes and is wasting funds on popular schemes for polishing KCR's image. The attack, however, was not taken kindly K Chandrasekhar Rao who returned the salvos. Thus a political tug of war has since broken out in Telangana.

It but interesting to note that on one hand while Amit Shah has taken an aggressive stance against KCR, on the other PM Modi is looking for support from TRS to support the BJP candidate for Presidential elections. 

Amit Shah told Telangana BJP leaders to keep raising public issues and fight for the rights with the state government. On a daily basis, there should be an agitation in the states and even at booth levels. 

Amit Shah told BJP leaders that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will spend two days in Telangana in August. Before that there should be BJP units in all districts and booth level committees should be formed.

What is the real politicking here? And that is the crux. 

On the one hand bring pressure while with the other seek their support. PM Modi is apply a similar tactic in  Tamil Nadu where the Centre is playing ball with the two AIADMK factions headed by Sasikala and O Pannerselvam. 

PM Modi understands that BJP needs the support of regional parties for fielding its Presidential candidate. They can always settle score with the regional parties at a time date. And both Amit Shah and Narendra Modi have perfect understanding on this.

How PM Modi handles the political tangle in AP and Telangana

It is here, one can witness the political brilliance of PM Modi. PM Modi has effectively handled the two tricky states - Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Both State and its leaders have diametrically opposite policies, programmes and ideologies. 

How does Modi ensure the balance? Well, to juggle the two leaders, PM Modi often uses the services of the state Governor ESL Narasimhan. To settle the 'jagada' between the two state leaders, Modi gets the intelligence report on the political dynamics through Governor Narasimhan. That is the prime reason why Modi has kept UPA nominee Narasimhan in the past three years in the crucial state like Telangana. 

ESL Narasimhan was an Intelligence Bureau chief, therefore knows the style of handling the political crisis. That is why Modi entrusted the difficult task to Narasimhan to bring the two warring Chief Ministers KCR and Chandrababu Naidu
to a talking table. 

Modi also directly meets these two Chief Ministers but handle them with aplomb. All Modi needs to do is a bit of arm twisting and the rest will be handled politically by Amit Shah
and administrative wise by Governor ESL Narasimhan.

Amit Shah's three-day visit according to a senior BJP General Secretary - "was too interesting." Telangana Rashtriya Samiti Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao was really rattled with the aggressive postures and the media coverage of BJP Chief Amit Shah during his visit to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.  

Geographical and political caste wise, the BJP stands to gain in Telangana. As there are eight to ten districts where the minority population is more which Telangana Rashtriya Samiti will exploit. But the remaining five districts, BJP is certain to improve its position, as the majority community are bound to go with BJP.  

From Telangana, Amit Shah drove down to Andhra Pradesh. This state is run by Telugu Desam Chandrababu Naidu an ally of BJPand NDA. Hence, there were no fireworks, however, Amit Shah told Telugu Desam that in 2019 both BJP and TDP should contest maximum number of assembly and also parliament seats.

Alliance issues dominated Amit Shah Chandrababu Naidu meeting. BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu who is also
from Khamma caste, was present during the entire three days visits of Amit Shah.

Whichever way one looks at the southern politics, certainly Congress will not show up in the near future but certainly, the BJP will make inroads in the Telangana, of course, partly in Andhra Pradesh.

By 2019 there shall be two states in South India where BJP is expected to rule - one is Karnataka and the second is in Telangana. Will the dream of Amit Shah come true? Watch out for this space.

 

R Rajagopalan is a senior journalist and analyst. The views expressed here are his own.