BJP bets big on OBC votes in Telangana

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

BJP is focusing on other backward classes (OBC) in Telangana ahead of the assembly elections, pinning its hopes on the largest community in the state which accounts for 54% of its population. "OBCs voted for the BRS in the last election.

But this time they are looking at the BJP. We have done one large meeting among the community and will be doing several such meetings in the coming months," BJP's national OBC morcha president K Laxman told ET.

Laxman is a Rajya Sabha member from Telangana and belongs to a backward caste. In the recent reshuffle of the party, the BJP sought to strike a balance among OBC leaders by appointing some of them in key positions.

Though the party replaced Bandi Sanjay Kumar, an OBC, from the state president's post, with G Kishan Reddy, there is talk that Kumar will be accommodated in either the government or the organisation at the Centre. Apart from Kumar, the party has appointed Etela Rajender, a prominent OBC leader from Mudiraj community, as the chairman of election management committee of the state.