The sharp rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) elections marks the beginning of a new chapter in Telangana politics.

From a non-entity in 2016 elections, the BJP has won 46 of the 150 divisions and finished as a runner-up in scores of other divisions, posing a serious challenge to the ruling TRS. The BJP’s rise also marked a sharp fall in the ruling party’s vote share, reducing its strength from 99 to about 60 divisions. It also signalled the fall of Congress party, which won only two divisions.

Gaining a foothold in Hyderabad means a lot for the BJP. That the GHMC represents one-fourth of the total electorate of about three crore voters shows its significance.

KCR in hotspot

This could alter the political equations in the State. Though the elections to the Assembly are three years away, the BJP’s ascendancy poses the first major political challenge to K Chandrashekar Rao, the Founder-President of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, who never faced any serious opposition in the last seven years.

After successfully leading the movement for a separate State in 2013, it was a cakewalk for KCR to win the maiden elections to the Assembly in 2014 and repeat the success in 2018.

The canny politician that he is, KCR didn’t want to go to the polls in 2019 as scheduled as it national issues could influence the poll out come. He advanced the polls by six months and retained power by winning 88 seats in the 119-member Assembly.

In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP surprised everyone by winning four out of the 17 seats.

BJP’s show of power

The national leadership of BJP knew the importance of Hyderabad. Telangana, with a huge Muslim population, is among the top of its focus States for the next general election as it suited its majoritarian agenda.

No wonder it mobilised its top leaders, including Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Yogi Adityanath, Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar and Tejasvi Surya, for the local body election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too scheduled a trip to Hyderabad during the campaign trail. Though he visited Bharat Biotech as part of his visits to the labs that are working on Covid-19 vaccines, his visit was seen as an indirect campaign in the civic body polls.

The TRS President knew the importance of the election too. Fresh from the humiliation of losing the Dubbaka by-election to the BJP, the TRS had marshalled all its resources to face the formidable opposition from the BJP.

Critics say that it is TRS’s own making. Even after winning three-fourths of the Assembly seats, it went on to poaching the Congress legislators, taking its tally to 102, with a view to weaken the Opposition. The situation is ripe for the rise of the BJP.

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