With the by-elections to the Jubilee Hills assembly seat round the corner, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is desperate to woo the Hindu voters to the maximum extent, as it has realised that the Muslim voters might tilt towards the Congress, thanks to the AIMIM support.
It was evident from the way senior BRS leader and former minister T Harish Rao paying a visit to Bhagyalakshmi temple near Charminar, which he had never done in the past, obviously with an eye on pleasing the Hindu voters.
Analysts questioned motives behind this high-profile temple appearance, alleging “performative piety” designed to mobilise Hindu voters when AIMIM support is perceived to favour the Congress in the constituency.
A visit to the Bhagyalakshmi temple has been the hallmark of the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders. In the past, there were confrontations between BJP leaders and AIMIM and suggesting that BRS’s current moves are aimed at countering a potential Congress edge.
The Congress suspects that Harish Rao’s visit to Bhagyalakshmi temple is a clar indication to the covert alignment between the BRS and the BJP.
“The BJP deliberately delayed selection of candidate for the Jubilee Hills bypoll and its campaigning has been completely low key, which clearly shows the nexus between two parties,” a Congress leader said.
Apparently, the BJP cadres themselves are not happy with this covert friendship with the BRS. They recall how former state unit chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar used to adopt an aggressive stand against the BRs, compared to the current leadership’s approach.
“The logic is simple: with minority votes widely watched, parties are simultaneously vying to consolidate Hindu votes through symbolic visits, public challenges and high-visibility events,” an analyst pointed out.