The BRS is banking on the BJP to split the anti-incumbency votes and bungling by the Congress in the allocation of seats to see it through in Greater Hyderabad and adjoining seats where the party was once considered to be the weakest.

The BRS is confident of winning 14-15 seats in the city and around barring those which are under the AIMIM. Ironically, the party which boasted of a strong rural base since its inception is facing resentment from agrarian voters while improving its chances considerably in the Greater Hyderabad area where the signs of development are more visible.

BRS leaders believe that it is possible since the “Brand Hyderabad” created by its dynamic working president KT Rama Rao who also handles the portfolio of IT, industry and urban development. And the party’s greatest support comes from the “settlers” primarily hailing from Andhra Pradesh.

“The urban people are more concerned with jobs, investment, infrastructure development and the Brand Hyderabad in the past nine years have been boosted beyond measure. The urban people prefer a progressive government and hence we enjoy considerable support among the people of Hyderabad,” said a BRS leader.

Undoubtedly, Hyderabad took quantum leaps under the BRS government with almost all major MNCs choosing to set up their campuses outside the US, in Hyderabad but the presence of a strong BJP on ground to split the anti-incumbency vote may also help the BRS to win the seats.

In the Hyderabad civic polls of 2020, the BJP had taken the BRS head on while the Congress was confined to two seats. The BRS could win only 56 seats while the BJP got 48 seats though along with MIM, which won 44 seats, the BRS formed the board. “BRS has never done well in the Hyderabad area and there was hardly half a percentage vote difference between BJP and BRS. With the weakening of Congress BJP will establish its stronghold in the city,” claimed BJP spokesperson Kishore Po Reddy.

However, the BRS leaders are not unduly worried over it. They point out that “in the civic polls of 2020, the BRS was sandwiched between the BJP and the AIMIM and their narrative of polarisation and our development agenda got sidelined but this will not happen in the Assembly election.”

According to their calculations, in a triangular fight, the BRS would win and some BJP voters might even vote for them for tactical reasons.

Moreover, the BRS leaders are confident that the Congress had bungled up badly when it came to selection of candidates, opting for little known “parachute” leaders who are pitted against its more seasoned politicians. Since most of the Hyderabad-based BRS leaders had migrated from the TDP, they enjoy the support of Andhra settlers.

Congress-nominated Madhu Yakshi Goud, who was once Nizamabad MP, switched to LB Nagar and Rohin Reddy, a leader from Khairatabad to Amberpet. While another key leader and former MLA Vishnu Vardhan Reddy was denied the ticket, Congress fielded former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin to take on Maganti Gopinath of the BRS and a little known Kota Neelima to take on the ruling party strongman Talasani Srinivas Yadav.

A shrewd KCR immediately ensured that AIMIM fields its own candidate, a local corporator in Jubilee Hills to split the 33 per cent minority vote in the constituency.

“We were on a sticky wicket at LB Nagar but after their candidate was announced we are sure we will sail through,” said the BRS leader.