In Telangana, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR)’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), erstwhile Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), will face a challenge from principal opposition Congress and distant fighter BJP. The 119-member assembly will go to elections in December 2023. In 2018, we saw the TRS decimate the Congress to single digits. In the last year or so, the TRS has focused on attacking the BJP more than the Congress as the former has emerged as a potential threat to the ruling party. BJP’s victory in Hyderabad local polls and two assembly bypolls shook the TRS and opened it to the rising threat from the BJP.
The state has a total of 17 Lok Sabha seats. In 2019, the then-TRS held nine, BJP four, and Congress three seats. In 2014, the TRS won 11 Lok Sabha seats. This time, the BJP is aiming for ten out of 17 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress, on the other hand, is struggling to find suitable candidates at the local level. For the BRS/TRS, the priority is a victory in the assembly in the midst of a tripolar contest with BJP and Congress.
In Chattisgarh, the incumbent Congress holds power in the 90-member assembly with 68 MLAs and Bhupesh Baghel as the Chief Minister. Baghel’s appeal to the local “Chhattisgarhiya” pride is evident in having taken steps like declaring official holidays on local festivals to organising local sporting competitions. This has helped it retain favourable support in the local populace, support that the BJP has failed to create on the ground.
For the BJP, it is facing in Chattisgarh what the Congress is witnessing in Rajasthan in the form of internal conflicts. The party has to create on-ground support for three-time former chief minister Raman Singh, the most recognisable face of the party, if it wants to see any positive results in the 2023 assembly.
Singh, has an uphill task ahead of him reconnecting with the cadre and the public on the ground. In the Lok Sabha, the state sends 11 MPs, nine of which are currently from the BJP and two from the Congress.