Union minister G. Kishan Reddy, the soft-spoken Telangana state BJP president, has an unenviable task of leading the party to occupy the space of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi that is said to be losing ground here after the state poll debacle five months ago. Many see Reddy as a soft face of Hindutva for a state where minority Muslims and Christians matter a lot, especially in his own Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency where he is up for re-election. Reddy took time off his hectic schedule to talk to The Telegraph at the BJP office in Hyderabad.
How is BJP doing here in Telangana? How many seats do you expect?
We are doing well and we are expecting to win in double digits (up from 4 it won in 2019)
Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi still your main vote catcher? How are the state leaders like you being received by the voters?
Naturally, the state leaders are playing a part. But there’s no doubt that Modiji is the main campaigner across the country.
There is a feeling that there is no Modi wave anymore. What is your take?
Of course, there is a Modi wave. That’s why (chief minister) Revanth Reddy has embarked on false propaganda saying the Constitution would be rewritten and other such unnecessary issues.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) seems to be losing out. So who is going to fill that space?
The BJP. There is no other alternative. The BJP is going to play a key role in Telangana state politics in the coming days.
Who do you think minority Christians and Muslims would vote for in Telangana?
This is not the first time (we are faced with that problem). They have been
with the Congress even in the past. Then they shifted to the BRS because of the AIMIM (All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen). But now they are again shifting to the Congress.
In another southern state, Kerala, the BJP has been claiming the support of some small section of Christians. Do you see that happening in Telangana?
Christians have started supporting the BJP in Telangana. In my own constituency, Secunderabad, I am confident of getting the support of the majority of Christians.
Don’t you think issues like Manipur will play out in Telangana?
No. There is no Manipur issue here. It’s an old question. We didn’t create the Manipur issue. It was created by the court (order).
Many see you as a soft-liner, as opposed to a hardliner Hindutva advocate. Is
that the reason why you are confident of winning minority support in your constituency?
That may be a fact. As an MLA for 15 years, I was available 24x7 to the people. If anything happened to anybody in my constituency I was available for them. I never even ask them which constituency they belong to. I simply ask them what their issue is and what I could do.
I was there for the Muslim and Christian communities as well. That’s why they will support me even this time.
What is your preferred political space? National or state?
I prefer to remain in state politics because that is where I am needed.
Do you think the Prajwal Revanna sex scandal issue in neighbouring Karnataka would affect your prospects in Telangana?
Who is Prajwal Revanna? (read, as in how important he is for the BJP) If one member of a family makes a mistake, the whole family cannot be punished. It doesn’t affect the BJP since it happened in another party.
Some say dissidence would hit the Revanth Reddy government if Congress doesn’t do well. What’s your take?
We are ready to wait for four-and-a-half years, as per the Constitution. After that we are coming to power in Telangana.
So you mean to say you are not for engineering defections to destabilise an elected government?
How can I? I have only eight MLAs (in the Assembly of 119 seats).
But BRS MLAs are believed to be looking at other parties.
One MP (Congress’s Venkatesh Beta) has joined us. Another one (BRS’s MP B.B. Patil) joined us before him. But our condition is that they should resign and join us without laying down conditions.
Telangana votes on May 13
