Like never before, the ruling BJP party which has been basking in the victory in Dubbaka by-polls decided to field several crucial leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party national president JP Nadda.
While the leaders will land in Hyderabad in the next few days to campaign for the Greater Hyderabad civic elections, tensions ran high in the Old City and a few communally sensitive areas in Hyderabad.
While Nadda will hold a roadshow in Hyderabad on Friday, Yogi Adityanath will conduct it on November 28 and Amit Shah a day later. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in the city, though not for electoral purposes – he will visit Bharat Biotech on the same day.
The BJP campaigning schedule came in the wake of AIMIM leader and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to campaign in the old city. Further, state unit president Bandi Sanjay’s raise the issue of Rohingyas, Pakistani and Afghansthani illegal overstayers in Hyderabad raised tensions.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister and TRS Chief will be holding a massive meeting at L B Stadium at around the same time which seems to be a deliberate move. TRS sources also confirmed that the campaign schedule was tweaked after the BJP bigwigs were brought into the GHMC polls.
The CM meeting is likely to last for two hours and end at around 5.45 pm. The GHMC polls, scheduled for December 1, have turned into a prestige battle for the BJP and this is clear from its star-studded list of campaigners–something rare for a municipal election.
