EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

PRK Prasad :

The Tiranga Yatra (tricolor march) of the Telangana unit of the BJP will culminate in a public meeting in Warangal on Saturday to mark the Liberation Day which would be addressed by the Party’s National president, Amit Shah.

The ruling party is adopting appeasement attitude. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, while leading the separate State movement was so vocal and now he has succumbed to pressures from the Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (MIM)

K Laxman, the president of the Telangana State unit of the party, has ambitious plans to strengthen the party base in the State and he has chosen this Liberation Day as his launch pad. On this occasion, the BJP State president spoke exclusively with the Metro India. "My party wants to celebrate the Telangana Liberation Day on a grand scale and prepare the cadre for the future programmes to thoroughly expose the failures of the TRS government in the State," he said.

The Musheerabad MLA minced no words in expressing his displeasure over the TRS government for not celebrating the Liberation Day officially. The TRS, while leading a separate State movement had, in fact, was so vociferous in demanding the then Congress government to celebrate the Liberation Day officially. During the elections, the party leaders had promised to celebrate it officially if it comes to power. The party is in power now, but it failed to keep its word.

Laxman, a PhD, who started his political career as a student leader in Osmania University, is elected twice from the Musheerabad Assembly constituency in Hyderabad city. He always has an instinctive zeal to fight for the genuine rights of the people. Laxman has the rare ability of mingling and involving with the masses and the elite alike.

Is the Tirang Yatra a success?

On a call given by our leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have taken up the programme on a massive scale and we made it a resounding success. In fact, for the first time two Union Ministers, Prakash Javdekar and Sadhvi Niran Jyothi, visited Telangana to pay homage to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives during their fight against the tyrannical rule of the Nizam.

Do you feel that the BJP can emerge as an alternative to the ruling TRS in the State.

Certainly. In the next elections itself BJP would like to replicate its success of Assam and Haryana Assembly polls in Telangana by expanding its political base. The TDP is no longer relevant in the State political scenario while the Congress got decimated totally. Thus, the BJP can easily emerge as an alternative to the ruling TRS and I am confident that our party will come to power in 2019. 

We want to take inspiration from Assam, where the BJP had only five MLAs in the last Assembly and now they could come to power. Even in Haryana, our party had only four MLAs and they emerged victorious, winning 43 seats and came to power. So, why not in Telangana.

Then what are your plans to strengthen the party network in the State?

We now want to take the party to every nook and corner of Telangana. Every State level leader will tour the villages. They will stay in a village or district headquarters for two days. They will sleep in the village and interact with party activists the next day. This part, already the mandal-level and booth-level committee are constituted. The 300 mandal-level booths taken up to 500 and 20,000 booth-level committees are formed which were earlier only 8,200.

Our party national president Amith Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have given clear directions to us and they are also keen on the party's victory in Telangana in the next elections. They are extending all possible help for the State unit of the BJP to move towards this goal.

Do you feel that the TRS is losing its base in Telangana?

Yes. The SCs, STs and the weaker sections are quite unhappy that the State government has not fulfilled its promises made to them during elections. For instance, the double bedroom houses, the land distribution and other issues are agitating the minds of these sections. We will also take them to the people and explain what the BJP will do for them.

Why is that the TRS is not celebrating the Liberation Day?

The ruling party is adopting appeasement attitude. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, while leading the separate State movement was so vocal and now he has succumbed to pressures from the Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (MIM). It is quite clear. We have been demanding that the sacrifices made my the martyrs of Telangana be included in the school curriculum but there is no response from him.

This is nothing but minority appeasement politics as some Muslim groups led by the MIM are opposing holding official celebrations of September 17. KCR is only insulting the sacrifices of martyrs and victims of tyrannical Nizam rule and is stooping so low to petty political expediency by undermining self-respect.

What about the reported differences among the leadership

It is nothing but media creation. We are all one and we will wage a fight unitedly to reach the goal of bringing the party to power in 2019.