Hyderabad: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit the Bhagya Lakshmi temple near Charminar on Sunday; he will start his GHMC election campaign from there. The choice of the Hindu temple amid a campaign that has touched highly polarized notes already reinforces the dominant narrative of the BJP’s election campaign for municipal polls in Hyderabad.

State BJP president Bandi Sanjay known for his provocative speeches has already declared that his “Vijay Yatra” or victory lap after winning the mayoral election would start from there too. Amit Shah’s visit to the temple will be followed by a road show in Sanath Nagar, Khairatabad and Jubilee Hills constituency.

This came just a day after the BJP promised in its manifesto that it would give ₹ 25,000 to every family hit by floods in October that ravaged many parts of the city. The local election in Hyderabad has the BJP’s A-listers flying down to the city for a campaign that has become less and less about roads and sanitation.

Both Nadda and Amit Shah’s visit to the city this weekend, and campaigners like Yogi Adityanath and Smriti Irani earlier, signify that the ruling party’s formidable election machinery is entirely focused the set of municipal wards in India’s top IT hub. Voting will be held in 150 municipal constituencies, or wards, in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls on December 1 and a mayor will be elected for the corporation that has a budget of ₹ 5,380 crore this year.