Hyderabad: There will not be early elections in the country, the next vote will be held in mid-2019 as per schedule, and the BJP will have the Ram temple in Ayodhya in its election arsenal as a key issue. These were among the important takeaways from BJP national president Amit Shah’s Hyderabad visit, which concluded last night.
In another important message to the Telangana unit of the party, Shah made it clear that the party will fight the elections in the state alone and there was no question of any tie-up with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). At the same time, he expressed doubts about the strength of the BJP unit in the state to take on the might of the TRS. In interactions with the state party’s election management committee and core committee, Amit Shah acknowledged that the TRS was far more strong and prepared and the BJP would have to do a lot more to catch up, leaders present at the meeting said.
He asked the party leaders to intensify their public contact programmes and cover each and every village in all the assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies.
“Expose the failures and corruption and undemocratic family rule of TRS in the state,” a party leader quoted Shah as saying. “He told us our aim is to defeat TRS and bring BJP to power,” said N. Ramachandra Rao, spokesperson of the party.
He told the state leaders not to bother about alliances as he would never prefer to have any pre-poll alliance and would like to strengthen the party by contesting polls on its own.
Shah tried to quell speculation that the Prime Minister Narendar Modi may advance the general elections slated for next year to this year and asserted before state party leaders that the elections will be held in April-May next year.
Equally significant were his remarks both in the meeting with BJP leaders as well as with the leaders of RSS and VHP that efforts were being made to start the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya much before the 2019 polls.
One of the leaders present in the meeting said that Shah expressed confidence that the construction of the temple will begin much before the next elections.
Significantly his remarks have come at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing the Babri Masjid Ram Janambhoomi dispute case.
Many leaders of the RSS and VHP have also made statement to the effect that the construction of temple would begin before 2019.
Shah also called on a couple of important personalities in the city as part of his ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ (contact for support) campaign. He met ace badminton player Saina Nehwal at her residence and shared with her details of various development and welfare programmes of the Modi government. The parents of Nehwal, who hails from Haryana, were also present.
Amit Shah also visited Telugu media moghul Ramoji Rao of Eenadu Group and sought his support. Rao is perceived to be close to the Telugu Desam Party, the ruling party in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh but which has been left with little clout in Telangana.
