State Bharatiya Janata Party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar has claimed that the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) would not cross 15 seats in the next Assembly elections and many TRS leaders were ready to switch over to the BJP fearing their political career getting ruined if they continued there.
Mr. Sanjay, however, refused to divulge the names of the TRS leaders in touch with them but said they were afraid to go to the next elections with Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s picture.
In an informal chat with the reporters ahead of his third phase of Praja Sangrama Yatra from August 2, he said these leaders were not looking at BJP for greener pastures but were fed up with the family rule of KCR. Apart from the leaders, people were also looking at the BJP as they have lost confidence in Congress, which will lose badly as people have realised that if they vote for the party the elected MLAs would join the TRS immedaitely.
Mr. Sanjay also claimed that KCR’s family has confined itself to home ever since the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids on Chikoti Praveen, who runs casinos. Several TRS MLAs were also involved in the ‘illegal’ activities of Chikoti Praveen and their names would come out soon, he claimed.
The BJP president said the trading community was scared of doing business as it was forced to shell down shares and commissions in every business to the TRS leaders. “They supported TRS earlier as they had no effective alternative. Now, they strongly believe BJP could provide a strong alternative,” he said.
Mr. Sanjay exuded confidence that the BJP would conquer even the old city of Hyderabad as Muslim voters have realised that the MIM had been cheating them all these years, without undertaking any development in the Old City. Referring to a survey revealing that BJP would grab 6 MP seats with 39% votes in the next elections, he said the party would win all the 17 MP seats in Telangana.
The BJP president said KCR was responsible for the inundation of Kaleshwaram pump houses that were constructed ignoring engineering norms. “Yet, he is seeking national project status,” he said. On the party tickets, he said only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief JP Nadda would decide on the tickets and constituencies for the leaders and aspirants cannot choose the constituencies. “This applies to me as well,” he said.
