NEW DELHI: The over 9-year rule of K Chandrasekhar Rao in Telangana has come to an end and with this his dreams for an immediate national role also seems to have crash-landed. The people of Telangana have voted out the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi and handed over power to the Congress, 10 years after the grand old party gave its nod to create the state.
The BRS has accepted defeat and said it is disappointed but not saddened by the verdict. “Grateful to the people of Telangana for giving BRS two consecutive terms of Government. Not saddened over the result today, but surely disappointed as it was not in expected lines for us. But we will take this in our stride as a learning and will bounce back. Congratulations to Congress party on winning the mandate,” said BRS leader and KCR‘s son KTR Rao.
So, what went wrong for K Chandrasekhar Rao’s party? While the BRS leaders sit and analyze the reasons for party’s defeat, one of the factors that will be debated is KCR’s ambition to go national and change the name of his party in the process.
It was in October 2022 that K Chandrasekhar Rao changed the name of his party from Telangana Rashtra Samithi to Bharat Rashtra Samithi with much fanfare. KCR called for BJP-mukt Bharat and met several leaders including chief ministers of other states like M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu), Nitish Kumar (Bihar) and Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi) in a bid to unite non-BJP non-Congress parties. He alleged that both the national parties had failed to develop the country. KCR also addressed public rallies in Maharashtra since the announcement of his party’s national foray.
However, he suddenly changed tracks and gave up on his efforts to unite the opposition parties. The BRS said that “blind hatred” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the sole agenda of ousting him from power cannot be the plank to unite opposition parties. KCR also stayed away from the opposition bloc INDIA, refusing to join its meetings. There were speculations that the regional party is going soft on the BJP. Infact, right through the campaign, the Congress tried to project the BRS and the AIMIM as the B-team of the BJP. This may have hurt the party’s prospects to some extent. It won’t be a surprise if the BRS decides to join hands with the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections
The other important factor that may have played a role in BRS defeat was the anti-incumbency – against the party, the chief minister and also the sitting MLAs. K Chandrasekhar Rao had nominated most of the sitting MLAs for these elections.
The Congress charges of graft and family rule may also have influenced voters’ sentiment against the party. Congress leader targeted KCR over graft during the campaign and said the upcoming assembly elections is a fight between the family of landlords headed by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao and the rest of the society comprising unemployed youth, farmers and women.
At another rally, Rahul accused the family of KCR of controlling “all money-making ministries.” He also alleged that during KCR’s rule in the state, 8,000 farmers have died by suicide. The Congress also attacked the KCR government over the TSPSC paper leak issue and accused KCR family of snatching the lands of 20 lakh people in the state and handing them over to their industrialist friends.
State Congress chief Revanth Reddy has dedicated the party’s victory to Telangana martyrs. He said it is the party’s responsibility to fulfil Telangana people’s aspirations after forming the government in the state.
“It is a people’s mandate. We need not (do) a postmortem. Everything goes well, then only you will get that magic number. The simple point is that they (people) wanted to change. They wanted to defeat KCR. They have defeated KCR. That’s all,” he said.
The BRS has accepted defeat and said it is disappointed but not saddened by the verdict. “Grateful to the people of Telangana for giving BRS two consecutive terms of Government. Not saddened over the result today, but surely disappointed as it was not in expected lines for us. But we will take this in our stride as a learning and will bounce back. Congratulations to Congress party on winning the mandate,” said BRS leader and KCR‘s son KTR Rao.
So, what went wrong for K Chandrasekhar Rao’s party? While the BRS leaders sit and analyze the reasons for party’s defeat, one of the factors that will be debated is KCR’s ambition to go national and change the name of his party in the process.
It was in October 2022 that K Chandrasekhar Rao changed the name of his party from Telangana Rashtra Samithi to Bharat Rashtra Samithi with much fanfare. KCR called for BJP-mukt Bharat and met several leaders including chief ministers of other states like M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu), Nitish Kumar (Bihar) and Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi) in a bid to unite non-BJP non-Congress parties. He alleged that both the national parties had failed to develop the country. KCR also addressed public rallies in Maharashtra since the announcement of his party’s national foray.
However, he suddenly changed tracks and gave up on his efforts to unite the opposition parties. The BRS said that “blind hatred” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the sole agenda of ousting him from power cannot be the plank to unite opposition parties. KCR also stayed away from the opposition bloc INDIA, refusing to join its meetings. There were speculations that the regional party is going soft on the BJP. Infact, right through the campaign, the Congress tried to project the BRS and the AIMIM as the B-team of the BJP. This may have hurt the party’s prospects to some extent. It won’t be a surprise if the BRS decides to join hands with the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections
The other important factor that may have played a role in BRS defeat was the anti-incumbency – against the party, the chief minister and also the sitting MLAs. K Chandrasekhar Rao had nominated most of the sitting MLAs for these elections.
The Congress charges of graft and family rule may also have influenced voters’ sentiment against the party. Congress leader targeted KCR over graft during the campaign and said the upcoming assembly elections is a fight between the family of landlords headed by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao and the rest of the society comprising unemployed youth, farmers and women.
At another rally, Rahul accused the family of KCR of controlling “all money-making ministries.” He also alleged that during KCR’s rule in the state, 8,000 farmers have died by suicide. The Congress also attacked the KCR government over the TSPSC paper leak issue and accused KCR family of snatching the lands of 20 lakh people in the state and handing them over to their industrialist friends.
State Congress chief Revanth Reddy has dedicated the party’s victory to Telangana martyrs. He said it is the party’s responsibility to fulfil Telangana people’s aspirations after forming the government in the state.
“It is a people’s mandate. We need not (do) a postmortem. Everything goes well, then only you will get that magic number. The simple point is that they (people) wanted to change. They wanted to defeat KCR. They have defeated KCR. That’s all,” he said.