BJP's 'giant-killer' says party now eyes power in T'gana

Hyderabad: Dharmapuri Arvind, who caused the biggest upset in Lok Sabha polls in Telangana by defeating TRS heavyweight K Kavitha, Thursday said the BJP is confident of coming to power in the state after the next Assembly elections.

A first-time contestant in electoral politics, the former Ranji Trophy cricketer defeated sitting MP Kavitha, daughter of the TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, by 71,057 votes, sending shock waves in her party.

Basking in glory after his 'giant-killing' feat, the 1976 born said he is confident of his party wresting Telangana from the ruling TRS after the next Assembly polls, due in 2023. "We will increase our tally (Lok Sabha seats) by 2024 for sure. In Telangana, we will be be a formidable strength and by 2023, I am certain about forming the government in Telangana," Arvind, who has now become a poster-boy of sorts for the BJP's state unit, said.

BJP was 'down-in-the-dumps' after the Assembly elections last year when it could win only one seat in the 119-member House, with the TRS returning to power with a rich haul of 88 seats.

The Lok Sabha elections saw the party winning four seats of the total 17 in the State, up from just one in the 2014 polls, giving a new energy to the Amit Shah's outfit.

Arvind is son of TRS Rajya Sabha member D Srinivas, who was a Congressman for a long time and had served as president of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Congress unit before joining the ruling party.