Hyderabad: BRS campaign lags behind amidst Congress, BJP momentum

Hyderabad : Amidst the heightened Lok Sabha poll campaigns of the ruling Congress and BJP parties, the BRS party remains inactive on the campaign front, proceeding at a sluggish pace devoid of any clear strategies.

Candidates for 12 Lok Sabha constituencies have been announced by the BRS, yet there has been silence from them thus far. Whereas the candidates from the opposite camp have already hit the ground. Leaders like Konda Vishweshwar Reddy from the BJP have already started their big roadshows in the Chevella constituency. The BJP candidate from Hyderabad, Madhavilatha Kompella, has also started door-to-door campaigns in parts of Old City. Similarly, Congress candidate Ch Vamshichand Reddy has been meeting the electorate in the Mahabubnagar Lok Sabha constituency. It may be mentioned here that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday, and the polling will be held on May 13.

Party leaders said that some of the candidates have started preparations for the polls. A senior BRS leader said that candidates like Kasani Gnaneshwar Mudiraj from Chevella, G Anil Kumar, and others have started preparations by holding meetings with the leaders at the mandal level and also important leaders in the constituency. It would be only a matter of time before they touched down on the streets.

In the past, the BRS leaders were aggressive with their campaign trials. During the last two Assembly elections, the party had announced candidates well in advance. The candidates were announced exactly two months prior to the election day, which ensured the candidates completed one round of campaigning before the schedule was announced and another round by the time the campaign trial ended. However, this time, the party leaders are slow in their approach.

Another senior BRS leader said electioneering is an expensive affair, and the candidates may not want their purses to be empty before the election. There is enough time for the election; hence, the party leaders are going slow.

The candidates would start and take up the campaign aggressively once the election notification was announced, the BRS leader said. Another reason for the delay was a lack of direction from the party leadership, as the senior leaders are busy in New Delhi with party MLC K Kavitha under custody.