Following the fiasco in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party national leadership is said to be contemplating conduct of early elections to Lok Sabha, along with assembly elections to some other states scheduled to be held in early 2019.
The BJP leadership is said to be of the view that the recent assembly elections in Karnataka indicated that the party still commands a lot of positive image among the people and it is time to capitalise on the same.
However, it has also taught a lesson to the party – that if it is complacent of its victory, the opposition Congress along with the regional parties can team up to form a strong front posing threat to its plans.
In the coming months, assembly elections are due in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and if the opposition parties put up a strong fight and defeat the BJP, it will further dent the party’s prospects in the Lok Sabha elections.
So, the BJP is said to be of the view of that if the Lok Sabha elections are advanced to November or December and post-pone the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to coincide with the LS polls, it might counter the opposition onslaught.
At the same time, the elections to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh also could be advanced so that there would be elections to all the states along with LS polls. This would give some advantage to the BJP, the party leadership feels.
Now, the question is whether it is possible to advance the elections in AP and Telangana.
Sources say ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi headed by K Chandrasekhar Rao might agree for the early polls, because KCR also hopes to cash in on the feel good factor among the farmers and deny an opportunity to the Opposition parties to strengthen themselves.
On the other hand, the Telugu Desam Party in AP led by N Chandrababu Naidu might not agree for early polls, because he needs time to get back his lost glory and rebuild his confidence to face the elections. He has to show some progress in the state before going in for polls, say sources.
