Telangana: BJP to contest election with 'full force'

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah at the national office bearers' meeting on Saturday said that the party will contest the upcoming Telangana election with full force, according to party sources.

At the meeting, Shah held "discussions over the elections in all states and said they will contest election with full force in Telangana," sources confirmed.

On September 6, Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan had dissolved the state assembly following a recommendation from the K Chandrashekhar Rao-led cabinet. The Governor, however, asked Rao to continue as caretaker Chief Minister until the new government was formed.

Later, KCR held a press conference and announced that his party Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) will contest the elections alone.

Meanwhile, Shah reportedly also stated that "there has been an attempt to create confusion regarding the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes SC/ST issue, but that won't cause any impact on the 2019 general elections."

Shah formally inaugurated the two-day National Executive meeting of the party today, starting off with the national office bearers' meeting.

This is the first National Executive meeting of the party after the death of former Prime Minister and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In the meeting, Shah also apparently claimed that BJP will "come with an absolute majority" in the 2019 elections.