Home Minister Amit Shah addresses an election rally in Telangana
The BJP has gone all out to secure the support of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community in Telangana as it looks to wrest the state from the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, or KCR.
At an election rally in the southern state's Suryapet area, Home Minister Amit Shah asked people to vote for the BJP and promised to make a person from the OBC community the Chief Minister if BJP comes to power in Telangana.
"Today, I want to tell the people of Telangana: You bless BJP and make a BJP government, BJP's next chief minister of Telangana would be from backward classes. We have decided this," Mr Shah said at the rally today.
Taking a swipe at KCR, Mr Shah said the BRS leader did not fulfil his election promises, including making a Dalit leader the chief minister or providing three acres of land to Dalits.
"While Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao wants to make his son KT Rama Rao the Chief Minister, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi wants to make her son Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister," Mr Shah said.
The caste factor is turning out to be a big political issue ahead of the elections in five states and the national election next year.
The Bihar government's caste survey report, released on October 2, has opened the floodgates for caste reconfigurations and realignments in the country. The survey had wider ramifications for political parties at the national and state levels. There is a clamour for similar exercises in other states, with regional parties believing it will only benefit them.
At a meeting in Mumbai, the opposition INDIA bloc had already called for a caste census in the country.
The demands for a caste census are focused on proving that the OBC population far exceeds the 27 per cent reservation limit and that urgent correction is due, journalist Bharti Mishra Nath said in her analysis of caste politics.
There is also a call for enhancing the quota beyond the 50 per cent cap suggested by the Supreme Court.