Bharatiya Janata Party, which is desperate to prove its existence by winning at least one Lok Sabha seat in Telangana, is looking for weakening the Congress party by luring its influential leaders in key constituencies, rather than tackling the Telangana Rashtra Samithi directly.
According to latest reports, BJP leadership is eyeing three major constituencies – Mahabubnagar, Malkajgiri and Nizamabad, where there is a clear communal polarisation and the party wants to cash in on the Hindu vote bank.
Of these three, the first two constituencies are unpredictable and BJP is fancying its chances and Nizamabad is no doubt a tough seat, but if BJP can make it at least second position, its stakes in Telangana will improve.
In order to gain hold over these constituencies, the BJP is concentrating on tapping the Congress votes by luring senior leaders of the party. In Mahabubnagar, the party has already trapped senior leader and former minister D K Aruna.
Now, there are reports that sitting MP A P Jitender Reddy might be denied ticket by the TRS and if the BJP could lure him into the party, he would be a big asset. In fact, Jitender Reddy was originally in the BJP, before jumping into the TRS.
In Nizamabad, the BJP has fielded Dharmapuri Aravind, son of former Congress chief and Rajya Sabha member D Srinivas.
Now, the BJP is planning to bring DS into the party, so that all his followers and Congress workers would take a plunge into the BJP.
In Malkajgiri, the BJP is sending messages to former Union minister Sarvey Satyanarayana, who is disgruntled after being denied ticket for the MP seat.
He was given MLA ticket for Secunderabad Cantonment seat in 2018, but he lost the elections. He is looking for political rehabilitation and therefore, he may fall into the BJP trap.