Bahujan Samaj Party a ray of hope for rebels

​Station Ghanpur (Janagaon): Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) could well be the last resort for the ticket aspirants in case if they were denied by their respective parties. It may be recalled that both A Indrakaran Reddy and Koneru Konappa embraced BSP ahead of 2014 elections and won before they defected to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Later, Indrakaran Reddy even became Endowments Minister.

Speculation is rife that quite a few leaders are in touch with the BSP leadership as an alternative mode if they are denied tickets in the forthcoming elections to Telangana State Assembly. This is simply because of the reason that BSP is a national party which has the support of its target groups (SC, ST, BC and Minorities) in Telangana State. This apart, the BSP leadership, which is aiming at a long-term plan to spread its wings, has plans to field its candidates in all 119 constituencies of the State.

Against this backdrop, the TRS rebel candidate in Station Ghanpur constituency Rajarapu Prathap has on Monday joined the BSP in the presence of Rajya Sabha member Vir Singh who is the party’s in-charge for Telangana State. 

This is seen as a major development in local political circles as it is likely to affect the TRS candidate Thatikonda Rajaiah. Prathap, who hitherto had plans to contest as an independent, will now have the advantage of BSP party symbol - elephant. Moreover, he is already causing tremors in the TRS camp with his aggressive campaigning in the constituency.

Although it is too early to predict the outcome of the election, the political pundits say that Prathap scored a few brownie points by joining the BSP instead of contesting as an independent.

Speaking to The Hans India, Rajarapu Prathap said: “I have the support of the people. My aim is to work for my constituency especially for the upliftment of the distressed sections. There is despair among the people as they did not see any sort of development in last few years. My focus will be on double bedroom houses to all the eligible persons in the constituency.”

Vir Singh said: “We have supported separate Telangana. The BSP is famous among Dalits, backward classes and the minorities. We will play a key role politically in the coming days. Efforts are on to strengthen the party in Telangana State. As of now, we are in a position to influence the political equilibrium in Telangana State and it will be reflected after December 7 polls.”