A shocking survey report is making the rounds in BJP circles, indicating that the BJP will hit a 'century' in the upcoming Telangana Assembly elections scheduled for December this year.
However, this 'century' does not refer to winning 100 out of the total 119 seats but rather losing deposits in 100 seats.
In the December 2018 Assembly polls in Telangana, the BJP contested 118 seats out of the total 119 but lost deposits in 105 seats. It only managed to win one seat, which was Raja Singh from Goshamahal.
The latest survey report commissioned by the BJP's central leadership reveals that the BJP will again lose deposits in 102 seats out of the total 119 in the upcoming Assembly polls.
Following the 2018 Assembly polls in Telangana, several political twists and turns occurred.
The BJP witnessed a meteoric rise in Telangana with its unexpected performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, where it won 4 Lok Sabha seats out of 17.
It also increased its tally in the GHMC elections from zero in 2016 to 48 in 2020, emerging as the second-largest party in GHMC after BRS. Additionally, the BJP defeated BRS in the Dubbak and Huzuarabad Assembly bypolls.
All these stunning victories helped the BJP replace Congress as the principal opposition to BRS in Telangana. BJP national and state leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, began talking about the BJP coming to power in Telangana in the December 2023 Assembly polls.
However, BJP's setback in the Munugode Assembly bypoll in November 2022 and its humiliating defeat in the Karnataka Assembly polls in May this year turned the tables. Congress bounced back and is now posing a threat to BRS.
The Telangana BJP has been hit with dissidence and group politics, forcing the national leadership to remove Bandi Sanajay from the post of Telangana BJP president and appoint Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy in his place.
There have been no further defections to the BJP from other parties, and in fact, several prominent BJP leaders are planning to join Congress anytime soon.
Against this backdrop, the BJP national leadership has commissioned a survey to assess its prospects, and the survey shockingly revealed that the BJP will lose deposits in 102 seats once again in the Assembly polls this year.
There is not much activity in the Telangana BJP unit these days after these survey results were leaked. The fight is seen between BRS and Congress, and the BJP is watching helplessly.
The national leadership is also not focusing on Telangana, realizing that there is no scope for the BJP to make any major gains in the Assembly polls this year.
The BJP's strategy now is to prevent Congress from coming to power in Telangana and ensure BRS's victory through a 'secret understanding'.
