PM Modi to address backward classes meeting in Hyderabad today, BJP amps up outreach efforts in poll-bound Telangana

“At least 40 leaders of various BC communities will meet PM Modi backstage before he addresses the public meeting. These are influential leaders representing various BC groups. The most important of them is Telangana BC Welfare Association president Jajula Srinivas Goud. The leaders want to thank the PM and party for announcing that a person from the BC community would be made the CM if the party is voted to power,” BJP general secretary G Premender Reddy said.

“As the first national party to announce specifically that a BC candidate would be appointed CM, the BJP is getting a lot of attention. By giving about 40 tickets to BCs, the BJP has also created a favourable impression. The BJP is going ahead with a major BC agenda and is aggressively pushing it. After the PM’s public meeting, this will become a strong pro-BJP wave. I have been invited on behalf of the BC Association while several leaders of various and individual caste groups have been invited to the public meeting,” Goud said.

Caste heads representing the Golla Kuruma community (Yadavas), Gouds, Munnuru Kapus, Padmashalis, Mudirajs, Rajaka, and others will also attend Modi’s meeting to be held at L B Stadium. Dr K Laxman, the BJP’s OBC morcha president, who is overseeing the arrangements for the meeting, said BC caste leaders from across the state had been invited.

“BC leaders will seek assurances from the BJP that it would implement BC-specific schemes like student scholarships, self-employment incentives, a special BC budget, and enhanced powers to BC Corporations,” Goud said.

MLA Etela Rajender and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who belong to BC communities, will be at the forefront of the BJP’s push to woo BC communities.

There are 134 BC castes in Telangana, and there is a growing demand for a caste-based survey to identify the exact number of people in each BC community. BC communities want quotas based on the numeric strength of each BC community.

The BJP is simultaneously wooing the Scheduled Castes (SC) with PM Modi scheduled to meet SC leaders and address an SC public meeting at Parade Grounds on November 11, with a focus on the neglected Madiga community.