GHMC Elections 2020: Political parties draw battle lines

Hyderabad: The political scenario for GHMC elections is clear. Though there are going to be many players, the main fight is going to be between the TRS, the BJP and the AIMIM. The TDP is already decimated and the Congress party has not been able to revive in the state and other parties do not matter much.

Interestingly, Jana Sena, which is a non-existing party in Telangana, has also decided to test the waters. This was announced by its party president Pawan Kalyan on Tuesday. This has come as a surprise since Jana Sena is in alliance with BJP in Andhra Pradesh.

The general belief was that the BJP will utilise the filmy image of Pawan Kalyan for campaign mostly in the municipal divisions where Andhra population is more. But it seems that the Jana Sena's alliance with BJP does not extend beyond Andhra Pradesh.

TRS working president K T Rama Raoa will be leading the Team TRS. The BJP too has pressed into action a big team consisting of Bhupender Yadav who had managed Bihar poll campaign, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy, D K Aruna and senior leader N Indrasena Reddy. They will be the main strategists for the party while the state president Bandi Sanjay and others will be active in the field.

The TRS, which does not want to take any chance this time in view of the Dubbaka result, has already gone into the field and its leaders have been meeting the voters. It wants to increase its strength in the GHMC as compared to last time when it won in 99 divisions. The party has completed the exercise regarding candidates and would announce the list at its party meeting to be held on Wednesday. It is learnt that though some changes have been made, majority of the sitting members will be given a second chance.

The TRS has decided to highlight the injustice meted out to the state by the Centre and the failure of the BJP MPs, including the Union Minister to get more funds to the State even when it had to face heavy floods during the recent rains. It has also announced that they would make a woman as the mayor of GHMC this time.

Not to be left behind, the BJP too is learnt to have finalised the first list of candidates and they have been unofficially informed a couple of days back and were asked to hit the road, lanes and by lanes and kick-start their campaign. They too are likely to announce the list on Wednesday. It has also constituted a team of leaders from Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra who would try to woo the voters from these states living in various parts of the city. According to their calculation, the voters from other states can tilt the balance in about 50 wards.

The 'disgruntled' Congress leadership, which showed poor performance in the Dubbaka byelection, feels that the fight would be between them and the TRS and the BJP for them is nowhere in the race. It is learnt that TPCC working president A Revanth Reddy will be the main campaigner for the Congress party.

The AIMIM party, which maintains very good hold in the Old City and some parts of Muslim-dominated wards in the city, was going ahead with its campaign. Though TRS is likely to contest some wards in the AIMIM bastions, sources say that it would be more of a friendly fight.