First become main opposition: Parrikar tells Telangana BJP

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today advised the Telangana unit of BJP to focus on becoming the main opposition in the state first, which, he said, would help it emerge as a replacement for the ruling party. Inaugurating the two-day executive meeting of Telangana BJP, he said the opportunity for the BJP to emerge as the main opposition was now "wide open". BJP, which fought the 2014 Assembly elections in alliance with TDP, won only five seats in the newly-formed state. It has only one member in the Legislative Council. Parrikar's comments come against the backdrop of MLAs from Congress and TDP defecting to the ruling TRS in recent months. The former Goa Chief Minister argued that there was no substitute to the grassroots work. "We need to go to the people. When I entered politics, I was given the task of bringing up BJP in Goa. We started from zero there. We religiously followed the principle of occupying the space of opposition first. Only when you become the main opposition, people start treating you as a (possible) replacement for the ruling party. And that opportunity for the first time in Telangana is wide open for BJP," Parrikar said. He saw ample scope for the party to grow in Hyderabad and the neighbouring Rangareddy district. "Hyderabad area is low-hanging fruit (for the BJP to catch)," he said. Taking a dig at the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS government which last year decided to abandon its erstwhile secratariat due to "Vastu" reasons, he said, "the current government is busy in many things which are not part of governance." "Vaastu Shastra is not part of governance. This government seems to be looking only at Vaastu Shastra," he quipped.