Hyderabad: Predicting a fractured poll mandate in Telangana, the BJP Sunday claimed that it would play a “vital role” in the formation of the next government in the southern state, where the TRS is eyeing to retain power.
Telangana went to polls on 7 December and the results for the state’s 119 Assembly seats will be announced on 11 December. “We have contested the election on our own for the first time after a decade. We have contested the polls to win. The BJP will be part of the government. Without the BJP, there cannot be any government. What happens after the results are declared, we will think of it,” state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K Laxman told PTI.
He asserted that the saffron party had become a formidable force in Telangana and that it would increase its vote share substantially and the number of seats considerably.
“We have surely become a formidable force in Telangana. We will increase our vote share and even the number of seats. The BJP is definitely going to play a very vital role in the formation of government,” Laxman said.
Asked about the reports that quoted him as saying that the BJP would support the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the event of a hung verdict, he said his comments were being taken “in a different manner.” The BJP leader, however, replied in the affirmative when asked if he had predicted a hung House.
“It will definitely be a fractured mandate. If we had the time (to prepare for the polls), we would have formed the government on our own. Due to the time constraint, plus, unable to stand the (Prime Minister) Modi wave, the TRS opted for an early election, just to avoid Modi’s charisma in simultaneous polls. We have bright chances,” he said.
Asked whom the BJP would support in case of a hung verdict, Laxman said the party would discuss the situation taking into consideration who would emerge as the single-largest party. “It all depends on the results, because even the Congress in Karnataka had repeatedly said the JD(S) was the ‘B’ team of the BJP. Finally, what happened?
They (Congress) joined hands with the JD(S). These are all mind games played by the Congress. “Here also, we have never said we are going to support the TRS. We will see what happens once the results are out,” he said. Stating that he was under the impression that no party was going to get a clear majority in Telangana, Laxman said, “We will play a crucial role.”
In a statement issued here, state BJP’s chief spokesperson K Krishna Saagar Rao said, “We have fought the Telangana polls to win. We have fought to form the government. However, whatever the voters’ mandate is on December 11, we will respect it and abide by their decision. The BJP will not support any party if there is a hung Assembly.”
The BJP had five MLAs in the Telangana Assembly that was dissolved on 6 September. While the BJP and the TRS, led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, contested the polls on their own, the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) had formed the “People’s Front.”
Meanwhile, the TRS Sunday said it was going to form the next government on its own by winning more than 80 of the 119 Assembly seats.
“There will be no need for the TRS to have support — either from the BJP or the AIMIM (the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen). We are going to form the government on our own with a comfortable majority, so the question of they (BJP) supporting us does not arise,” TRS leader and Karimnagar MP B Vinod Kumar told PTI.
“We are confident that the TRS will form the government on its own. There is no need for any support from any quarter,” he said.