Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party, yearning to strengthen itself in Telangana, seems to have to found a potent issue in the state government’s move to increase reservation quota for backward sections of Muslims to 12 per cent.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has announced that the bill for 12 per cent reservations for Muslims and Scheduled Tribes will be tabled in the current budget session of the state legislature.

In the first indication of how the BJP intends to fight back against the move came from the trouble in Jagtial town of Karimnagar district where BJP workers stormed a guesthouse where members of the state Backward Classes Commission were meeting the representatives of various sections on the issue of Muslim reservation.

The members of the commission are visiting districts to study the educational and economic backwardness of Muslims. BJP workers shouted slogans against the BC commission and the chief minister and disrupted the proceedings. Later police dispersed the protesters.

“This is nothing but vote bank politics of KCR,” said Bandi Sanjay, a district BJP leader.

In Hyderabad, BJP legislator G Kishan Reddy said the party will not keep quiet if the TRS government pushes through the bill. “It is unconstitutional. We will launch a massive movement on the line of Telangana movement against it,” Reddy said. By playing up the issue the BJP hopes to cash the feelings of insecurity and fear of loss among sections of the Backward classes in the state on account of increasing the quota for Muslims.

Some organisations, including the state Backward Classes Welfare Association, have warned the government that quota for Muslims should not be from the 27 per cent reservation for the BCs.

The state BJP leaders elated over party’s spectacular performance in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal were hoping it will also rub on them and the Modi wave would reach Telangana.

Apart from targeting reservation for Muslims, the state BJP’s strategy will also encounter KCR over the issue of family rule and failure in fulfilling other major election promises.

“If we targeted maa-bete ki Sarkar [mother-son government, hinting at Sonia and Rahul Gandhi] in 2014 and baap-bete ki sarkar [father and son government of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav government] in Uttar Pradesh, here baap-bete-beti ki barkar will be our target,” a party leader quipped referring to the dominant role of KCR’s son and minister K Taraka Rama Rao and daughter and MP Kavita.

For the first time since the 2014 elections the BJP was appearing to be in a revival mode. Traditionally the party had its pockets of influence in the Telangana region but due to flip-flop of its central leadership and Vajpayee-led NDA government on the Telangana state issue, its base has eroded and party supporters moved onto KCR’s Telangana Rashtra Samiti bandwagon.

With Telangana becoming a reality and the entire credit going to KCR’s leadership, the TRS swept the 2014 elections.

With the state issue no more relevant and 2019 polls likely to be fought on the basis of performance of the TRS government or lack of it, the BJP leaders are hoping to cash on the anti incumbency and the Modi factor.

The state will witness quite frequent visits by the BJP supremo Amit Shah in the months to strengthen the organisation through a series of meetings in almost all the districts.

However, the TRS leaders are confident that the party will not only win the 2019 elections but considerably improve its strength in the assembly.

KCR told the party legislators last week that a survey he commissioned has forecast that the party will win 101 to 106 in the 119 assembly seats in the next election.