The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is strategizing to use Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public meeting at Parade Ground in Secunderabad on May 10 as a launchpad for its campaign in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and two other civic bodies within the Outer Ring Road (ORR), whose elections are anticipated later this year.
The BJP central leadership has directed state leaders to mobilize crowds, particularly women and youth, from the 300 wards of GHMC, Cyberabad, and Malkajgiri municipal corporations, with a special focus on the 150 wards in GHMC alone. This will be Modi's first public meeting in Telangana after assuming office for a third term as Prime Minister.
Modi is expected to target the Congress party and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy in his speech, accusing them of rallying various parties to defeat the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha and opposing the proposed delimitation of constituencies by raising the north-south issue.
A senior BJP leader involved in crowd mobilization said: 'When Union Minister Bandi Sanjay met PM Modi in New Delhi and invited him to Karimnagar, where BJP won the mayor post, Modi favored a public meeting in Greater Hyderabad rather than a town or district headquarters.'
MPs, MLCs, MLAs, senior leaders, and 'prabharis' have been tasked with ensuring large-scale mobilization of women and youth from every ward in the city. Special trains are being planned to bring people from districts, but the primary focus remains the state capital. Motorcycle rallies by youth from each GHMC ward are also being organized.
'BJP wants to seek an opportunity to serve the people of Telangana by claiming that both BRS and Congress have failed. We want to emerge as the only alternative in the state with GHMC elections as a stepping stone ahead of assembly elections,' a leader said.
BJP state president N. Ramchander Rao confirmed that 'focus is women, youth, and SCs, who will be mobilized mainly from the three corporations within the ORR.' He added, 'Congress has betrayed the women of this country by defeating the Women's Reservation Bill.'
'The incumbent Congress government and the previous BRS regime betrayed the youth and SCs. PM Modi's visit and public meeting will definitely have a positive impact for BJP in the state capital and will give a major fillip to BJP's efforts to emerge as the only alternative in Telangana,' Ramchander Rao added.
The PM's public meeting is crucial for the state BJP, as its performance has not met expectations in the bypolls to Secunderabad Cantonment and Jubilee Hills, as well as in panchayat and municipal elections, after winning eight Lok Sabha seats in Telangana in 2024. The saffron party won 48 of the 150 wards in the GHMC elections in 2020 but ended up winning only the lone Goshamahal constituency in the GHMC area in the 2023 assembly polls.
