BRS to convert confused into positive votes, micro-manage to booth level, says KTR

HYDERABAD: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will be embarking on micro-management of voters at booth level in the State to ensure victory by garnering not less than 88 seats out of the 119 in the ensuing Assembly elections.

Working President and State IT Minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) in an informal chat with media on Saturday said that the party categorised 3.1 crore voters in the State into four. “Category A voters are pro-BRS, B are confused voters, not sure of whom to vote, the C category who are angry with BRS and D that won't vote for us,” the Working President said.

He said that the party activists would meet each and every voter for the next 40 days and explain to them why they must vote for the BRS. “Surveys have found that the age group 18-35 years have developed an anti-establishment mindset and are in a combative mood. We have decided that we will not leave the voters uninformed before they go and vote. We believe that the failure of the government will not have a blanket effect on the voters’ psyche,” KTR pointed out. Moreover, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) would cover at least 100 constituencies to ensure the victory of our candidates, KTR added.

He added that the Government during the past nine years filled up 1.3 lakh Government jobs which was much higher than what the Congress did during its five-decade-long rule.

Elaborating on the preparations for the elections, he said that the BRS created 119 war rooms comprising of 350 employees who would comb voters according to their psychology, trends, and deflection. “On the ground level, every poll booth will have 100 BRS workers for man-to-man monitoring. These functionaries gather key inputs from mandals and villages.

He also said that the party was meticulous in the way the candidates were selected. The BRS conducted multiple surveys before handing over the B-forms and all the surveys were purely based on merit and given to the existing MLAs since they featured on the top of the list.

Making it clear that the Congress was the main contender, KTR said that the BJP was nowhere to be seen. “However, the BRS will bag more than 88 seats out of 119 constituencies and will form the government,” a confident KTR said.

Commenting on the allegations of the Congress that BRS was working in tandem with the BJP and the AIMIM, he said that first one must understand which Congress party we were talking about. “There is a Revanth Reddy Congress, Uttam Kumar Reddy Congress and Rahul Gandhi Congress. Mark my words, if the ship sinks Revanth will move to BJP in Telangana with his set of MLAs. Revanth is known for disloyalty. BRS is not a B team to anyone, but an A team,” KTR said.

Commenting on the cordial relations that the BRS had with the AIMIM, KTR termed BRS and AIMIM as friendly parties. “And so were Congress and AIMIM before the 2014 elections. When it is convenient for the Congress, they call themselves secular and when it is not they call out others as communal. Is Congress not in bed with the Shiv Sena party in Maharashtra? Do they not find Shiv Sena communal?” he questioned.

KTR said that the BRS has delivered 90 percent of what it had promised in the manifesto. “Despite of that we might be facing anti-incumbency, even God faces anti-incumbency. People have faith in KCR's governance. Be it is Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bheema, Kalyan Laxmi or even Dalit Bandhu, our flagship programs are copied by other governments,” the BRS Working President said.

He agreed that the TSPSC examinations were a mess up, and reminded the people that it was Revanth Reddy Bandi Sanjay and Balmoor Venkat who knocked court's doors to postpone the examinations. He said that BRS provided 30 percent more jobs than the Congress Government when it was in power.

“We have addressed issues of unemployed youth through our schemes and that would be our focus once we come to power,” KTR said.

Reiterating that the BRS would win 88 plus seats. He said that certain constituencies like Manthani and Ramagundam could be tough spots. “A psephologist this morning told me that, BRS would win these seats as well. See Congress has never crossed the 60 mark in the last two elections. Meanwhile, data from the 2014, and 2018 elections have been analysed to understand where BRS must work hard. Half of the battle is won when you plan well,” KTR mentioned.

Reacting to comments of Union Minister Smirthi Irani that a vote for Congress will be a vote for BRS, the IT Minister said that Smriti Irani should first go to Manipur and apologize to the ethnic groups for the disturbance. She never spoke about the increasing gas cylinder price, did she ever speak for the Indian Wrestlers when they accused a BJP MP of sexual harassment?, KTR pointed out.

On the accusation of the BJP that the BRS had funded the Congress in Karnataka polls, KTR said that knowing that Congress's win in Karnataka would affect Telangana, why would BRS fund elections in the neighbouring state.

He argued that the Congress and BJP, both don't want any regional parties to take centre stage. “That is why they are against Stalin, Mamatha and KCR. Just like Modi and Rahul want to crush the regional parties with national ambitions. When Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi can envisage being a PM why not KCR,” he said.

Talking about tackling the descent in the party, he said that first Mynampally Hanumanth Rao should win from his own constituency Malkajgiri before thinking about Medak. “We might lose certain segments but that doesn't mean they have a hold over a cluster of assembly seats and will affect the formation of the government. It all boils down to KCR. This time our slogan is We did well so we are returning to power,” KTR said.

The BRS leader said that the BRS had the advantage of declaring the candidates list first. “More than 95 percent B forms were given and we are ahead of all in electioneering and we will be ahead in results,” he said. On the other hand, Congress was facing a severe shortage of candidates at least in 40 places. BJP threw its hands in the air and their candidates would forfeit their deposits, he forecasted.

Criticising Rahul Gandhi for his barbs on the sand mafia, KTR said that the revenue that the Congress Government earned from the sand was Rs 39.40 crore in 10 years as the BRS garnered Rs 5,000 crore. “Sand mafia, land mafia, suitcase culture, health sector failure are Congress Government’s track records. The total number of medical colleges they set up is five now we set up 30 more medical colleges,” he said.

Reacting to the C Voter prediction of a BRS loss, KTR said that it would be a good omen for the party as last time also they (C Voter) projected that the BRS would lose, but the regional party won.

Commenting on desertions from the BRS, he said that KCR stood strongly and decided that the institution was more important than individuals. “So in Khammam district we let some leaders go,” he said.

Calling the sops announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi such as the Turmeric Board and others, KTR called them as an eyewash. On the probability of Etela Rajender contesting from Gajwel and Kamareddy, he said that given a chance he would contest from all the 119 seats.

On the issue of Congress calling the BRS the B party of the BJP, said that it was the Congress that shared power in Maharashtra with Shivsena and in Meghalaya, the BJP and the Cong joined hands.

“You are partners, you are husband and wife. Who hugged whom in Parliament? Who winked at each other. Arvind and Jeevan Reddy did ‘alai balai’. Is Shivsena a secular party,” he wanted to know.

About the Majlis and its secular credentials the BRS Working President said that he would agree if any MIM legislator claimed so. Forecasting a defeat for the Congress he said that Rahul Gandhi wouldn’t come to power. “Let him make dosa and idly and sell,” he said in a lighter vein.

He said that Congress always treated minorities as a vote bank and said that the BRS Manifesto must be taken to the people first. “Our manifesto has yet to be taken into the people, we will expedite taking it to people after Dasara,” he said.

Regarding caste-based census, he said that the BRS demanded caste census in party plenary. “We resolved in Assembly on this. Our stand has been clear for years, we are all for it,” KTR said.

KTR said that the BRS was determined to stop the BJP from coming back to power. “We will try our best to prevent the BJP from coming to power whatever we should do will be thought of after we win Telangana. All thinkers in this country should work together to control the BJP across India. BJP should go,” KTR said.

He pointed out that the Centre was trying to cripple Telangana economically. “BJP wants to derail our programmes like 24x7 power. The BJP govt wants to squeeze us and pressurise us. We discussed with left parties but calculations and equations didn’t work out. We made our offer, but they didn’t like it,” KTR said talking about the deliberations with other parties in the fight against the BJP.