Bharatiya Janata Party, which is desperate to come to power in Telangana, is taking out one weapon or the other ahead of the assembly elections in the state scheduled to be held on November 30.
The BJP has already sought to woo the Backward Classes by declaring that a BC candidate will become the chief minister if the party is voted to power.
The party has given more than 35 percent of seats to the BCS, much higher than the Congress and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
Now, the BJP is contemplating to take out yet another trump card to appease the Scheduled Castes, mostly Madigas, who are in higher numbers in Telangana.
The party is planning to make an announcement on categorisation of SCs, which has been the long-pending demand of the Madigas for over three decades.
The NDA government is expected to take a decision in a day or two; and the announcement is likely to be made by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his public meeting to be held at Secunderabad parade grounds on November 11.
The meeting has been christened as “Madiga Vishwaroopa Bahiranga Sabha” and Modi would talk about the sub-castes within the SCs at the rally. Soon after he makes the announcement, the Centre would issue a notification to this effect, sources said.
The SC categorisation has been supported by all the political parties, including the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and the Congress, but the decision has to come from the Centre.
The BJP has been silent on this issue for a long time but now that the elections have become crucial, it is likely to take a positive decision, sources said.
However, analysts say it is too late an announcement from the BJP, at a time when the elections are just 20 days away.
One wonders whether the people would believe it as a sincere and genuine step, forget about voting the BJP to power.
“Had the announcement been made six months ago and the categorisation been done then, the BJP would have gained some mileage But it is now too late,” an analyst argued.
