Hyderabad Civic Polls As Test Ground, BJP Looks To Expand Telangana Footprint

BJP president Nitin Nabin's three-day Telangana tour is being seen as the party's biggest organisational exercise in the state this year and the formal launch of its campaign for the upcoming Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections.

It comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hyderabad visit, highlighting the BJP's growing focus on Telangana as part of its southern expansion strategy.

Nitin Nabin's Strategy

During his visit, Nitin Nabin held a strategy meeting with booth-level workers while interacting with students and tribal leaders at an open house. He also held a detailed discussion with BJP MPs, MLAs and state office-bearers, inaugurating 10 district party offices and opening the Telangana BJP State Executive meeting.

BJP top brass's immediate political target is the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election. Hyderabad remains the BJP's strongest urban base in Telangana. In the 2020 GHMC election, the BJP surged from 4 to 48 corporators, emerging as the principal challenger to the then TRS (now BRS), which won 56 seats, while AIMIM secured 44 and Congress was reduced to just two seats. That breakthrough established the BJP as a serious force in urban Telangana.

The GHMC election is also significant as 24 Assembly segments and five Lok Sabha constituencies fall under it.

While in the 2023 Assembly election, the party failed to convert its urban support into widespread victories, a few months later in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, it rebounded to win eight of Telangana's 17 parliamentary seats, announcing itself as a real challenger in Telangana politics.

Earlier this year, in the urban local body elections, for the first time in state political history, the BJP emerged as the largest party in Karimnagar and Nizamabad, even though it could not secure control everywhere because of post-poll alliances.

Why Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Matters

For the BJP, GHMC presents a unique political opportunity. Congress governs Telangana but has historically found Hyderabad difficult to crack electorally. The BRS continues to have an organisational network in the city but has weakened since losing power in the state. AIMIM remains dominant in the Old City, leaving large parts of Hyderabad's suburban electorate.

Nabin himself acknowledged that BJP workers had succeeded in weakening the BRS and creating anti-incumbency but admitted the party failed to convert that political momentum into enough votes in the 2023 Assembly election.

The current tour is aimed at correcting that organisational gap through booth-level mobilisation and cadre expansion before the GHMC polls.

Senior journalist Kinshuk Nag explains, "The BJP has made its mark in the north, they have reached East by wining Bengal, South India is where the party struggle. In recently held Tamil Nadu and Kerala elections, the BJP or its alliance could not bring any magic or made a difference. Amid this, Telangana looks like a low-hanging fruit which can eventually give them the southern entry. While the Congress and Revanth Reddy play a localised politics and the BRS is trying hard to gain ground, it's the BJP that is generating chatter among voters."

The Political War Of Words

The BJP chief also sharpened the political attack, where on one hand it accused the Congress of being driven by an "Italian mindset" and declaring that the BJP would "uproot" parties practising dynastic politics and appeasement, he also launched a sharp attack on AIMIM calling it catering to specific sections of society.

"The AIMIM may be a compulsion for the BRS, and a compulsion for the Congress, but the BJP has no such compulsion. The BJP's strength and confidence lie in the people of Telangana. Therefore, we will work with total dedication for the people. And we declare that we will certainly uproot those parties driven by dynastic politics. We do not believe in dynastic politics; we believe in nationalism. We do not believe in appeasement," Nitin Nabin said while addressing the party leaders and workers in Hyderabad on Sunday. He will return to Delhi on Tuesday.

He described the forthcoming corporation elections as the first step towards replacing the existing political order with the BJP's "politics of development."

Congress responded by challenging the BJP and BRS to a debate in the Assembly on governance and manifesto implementation.

"We are ready to debate the 10-year BRS rule, the 12-year BJP rule, and our two-and-a-half-year rule. We are ready to debate the manifestos of the BJP, BRS, and Congress," said Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in Nalgonda on Sunday.

As BRS is facing a survival challenge and Congress is not able to stand on its poll promises and governance, Nitin Nabin's message from Hyderabad to the party men is clear build the organisation first, consolidate the urban vote, convert parliamentary gains into civic victories, and use Telangana as the party's launchpad for deeper expansion across southern India.