Hyderabad: TRS & Congress on tenterhooks

Hyderabad: Now that it appears that 'One nation, one election,' is a matter of certainty by end of 2022, the ruling TRS feels that both the party and the government need to focus greater attention to win over the people if it were to come back to power for the third consecutive term.

Party insiders feel that while it was necessary to evolve new strategies at the party level and go to the people, without wasting any more time, at the government level too, changes in its style of functioning was necessary. The recent results of Dubbaka by-election and GHMC indicated that all was not well. Hence, the party needs to have a thorough introspection and work out strategies to win back the people. It also feels that the party should jump into action and go to the ground level from now itself.

On the other hand, it has now become a prestige issue for the BJP which has seen two consecutive victories. It now has a major task to prove its prowess in the Warangal and Khammam corporation elections, graduate polls to the Legislative Council and Nagarjunasagar by-election to the Assembly. If it slips anywhere, it will have to be on tenterhooks. In the backdrop of this situation, the State BJP has started strengthening the cadre in every Assembly constituency. The State unit will be guided by the central party and all strategies will be planned by the national leadership. The party feels that it was strong in about 50 of the 119 Assembly constituencies, as of now. It can be in the race for coming to power if it can consolidate its position in another 10-15 seats.

The Telangana Congress, which is decimated, is still struggling to find an effective leader who can take the party forward to regain at least some of its lost ground. The delay in selecting a new PCC chief is also affecting the party's electoral prospects. The State leaders are not confident whether they would be able to make a mark in the ensuing elections. Unless the leadership crisis is resolved and the party goes aggressive, it is difficult to emerge as a considerable force to reckon with, the seniors say.