The Telangana Assembly elections may be postponed to April and the state might go to polls under President’s rule. K T Rama Rao, the working president of the BRS party, expressed this concern during a media interaction. KTR mentioned that if the Election Commission does not announce the schedule of polls by October 10, then it is unlikely that Assembly polls will be held in November. More clarity will come after the brief session of Parliament later this month.
The Centre seems to have decided to combine the Lok Sabha elections with the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and Telangana. KTR believes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not want to lose power even for a day and wants to avoid holding separate elections for the Assembly and Lok Sabha. Despite denials from leaders like Prakash Javadekar and Union minister G Kishan Reddy, KTR suggests that they may not be aware of the situation.
The BJP may wait until the inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in January and then convene another brief session to pass a vote-on-account budget and dissolve the Lok Sabha. The Centre may opt to hold polls in April due to upcoming examinations in February and March. Although KTR believes this move will not benefit the BJP, as the BRS is ready for polls and has announced its candidates, party sources express concern over the Centre’s actions. The BRS wanted to showcase its achievements over the past nine years and run an aggressive campaign, but if the elections are combined with the Lok Sabha, they may need to rework their strategy as national issues would dominate.
Additionally, sustaining a campaign for six months if the elections are deferred till April will be challenging. The BRS believed that if the Assembly polls were held in November, they could focus on national politics and test their strength in states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. However, combining the elections may create obstacles for implementing their plans. The party’s top leadership also expresses concerns about implementing ongoing projects if President’s rule is imposed.
