With Amit Shah, Telangana BJP to organise massive show of strength near Hyderabad on May 14

The MP from Karimnagar said the party is planning to organise a huge welcome for Shah. “This public meeting will be attended by thousands of people and will show that the BJP is ready for the elections in the state. Cadres and supporters from all constituencies will attend the public meeting,” he said.

Kumar and senior BJP leaders are holding video conferences with booth level workers and coordinators to mobilise people – at least 5,000 people from each mandal in the state – to attend the meeting.

Apart from Shah, party chief J P Nadda and other senior party leaders will attend the public meeting where the BJP will announce its poll promises and plans. The BJP leaders will talk about neellu (water), nidhanalu (funds) and niyamakalu (jobs) which was also the rallying cry for the Telangana statehood agitation. Several welfare schemes are being finalised which the BJP will promise to implement if it comes to power, and they will be announced. BJP leaders will talk about the “double engine growth” (at the state and Centre) and good governance.

Kumar had launched his padayatra on August 28 last year and completed its first phase on October 3, emphasising local connect by interspersing his yatra with small public gatherings and outreach meetings along the way. He plans to complete the padayatra in four phases to cover the entire state and conclude it just before the elections.

Alongside the padayatra, BJP’s booth and ward-level in-charges, mandal in-charges and district leaders are on a door-to-door campaign. BJP chief spokesperson K Krishna Sagar Rao said that by the time the elections are announced, they would have met each voter at least 10-15 times.

With the Congress in disarray in the state, the BJP sees an opportunity in the state’s political arena. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had addressed a public meeting at Warangal on May 6 and announced farmer-friendly schemes.