Amit Shah’s public meeting today: Will BJP make inroads into Congress bastion?

Khammam: The Khammam district, which in the beginning was a stronghold for left-leaning parties, later became a Congress constituency in recent years. The BJP is now revving up to demonstrate its might in the Congress-dominated combined Khammam district. Mounting the charge is none other Union Home Minister Amit Shah who will hold a public meeting named ‘Rythu Gosa - BJP Bhorosa’ at SR and BGNR College Grounds in Khammam on Sunday.

Incidentally, Amit Shah is visiting Khammam for the first time. The party has deployed senior leaders for each Assembly segment to rally the masses for the meeting.

It may be recalled that two dates were fixed for his meeting earlier, but they had to be postponed for various reasons. Finally, with the most recent confirmation of Amit Shah’s schedule, BJP leaders have stepped up preparations for the assembly elections and aim to mobilise at least one lakh individuals from the erstwhile combined district. State party president and union minister Kishan Reddy himself oversaw the arrangements to make the meeting a great success.

In the united Khammam district, the Communist Party held its sway initially but gradually gave way to the Congress party which ensured that the TRS (now BRS), which came to power in the state for the last two terms, could not prove its mettle in the district. The TRS was only able to win one assembly seat in both the 2014 and the 2018 elections. With the defection of MLAs from other parties after 2019, its strength grew. In the case of BJP, the joint district has never had any BJP representation in any elections. The saffron party could muster 14,43,799 votes in the 2018 statewide assembly elections, or 7.13 per cent of the vote. But, nowhere in the united Khammam district could make its mark. It did not cross 2,000 votes in any assembly segment.

However, the Khammam corporation elections snapped the losing streak of BJP for the first time in three years. It won a corporator election. In such a state, the party has chalked out an ambitious drive to storm the bastions of other parties, mainly Congress and BRS.

The saffron party plans a huge mobilisation of people from Khammam corporation limits. They exude confidence that the Amit Shah visit would significantly change their fortunes.

On Sunday morning, Amit Shah will take a special flight from Delhi to Vijayawada. From there, he will go to Bhadrachalam by helicopter before arriving in Khammam at 3 pm, when he will attend a public meeting. A security blanket has been thrown on the venue and the routes leading to the place. Police Commissioner Vishnu S Warrier is personally overseeing bando bust and security for the meeting.