From A National Pitch Just Two Years Ago, KCR's BRS Is Struggling To Survive In Telangana Politics — What Went Wrong?

K. Chandrashekar Rao, the former Chief Minister of Telangana, who once spearheaded the movement to demand a separate state from the undivided Andhra Pradesh, seems to be struggling to survive in state politics.

KCR's erstwhile Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) — later rechristened Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) — stormed to power in the newly formed state of Telangana in 2014.

Since then, KCR's party won two elections consecutively, before being routed in the 2023 state assembly polls when Revanth Reddy and the Congress stormed to power.

Downfall of any party is not news, but they are gradual. So what went so wrong with the BRS? The answer can be found in a series of events that have unfolded since KCR's national ambitions were made public a few years ago.

'Investors Rejected The Pitch'

On 9 December, 2022, TRS was officially renamed BRS.

The stage was finally set for KCR to realise his national ambitions, amid a bickering opposition that never had a united leadership. While KCR conveniently paper-clipped opposition leaders, aspiring to maintain good terms with everyone, he also ended up taking the risk of going it alone.

In a way, while opposition parties like Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) conveniently tied up with BRS during the polls to consolidate the minority votes, the BRS also kept the doors open to behind-the-doors arrangements with local leaders to boost its presence when and where necessary.

Siddhu, a journalist based in Hyderabad, feels that the decline of the BRS began when the people of Telangana developed a sense of scepticism over KCR's national ambitions. The state was still in its infancy, and the people were dependent on KCR to handhold them till the point it could run on its own.

"But KCR failed to recognise that the state of Telangana was a regional movement that gained traction because people from Rayalaseema and other parts of Andhra Pradesh ended up getting positions of power during Chandrababu Naidu's time as the Chief Minister of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh", he says.

This gradual frustration gained traction when KCR launched the movement for a separate state.

"People assumed that they would get more jobs, more economic independence if they had a state of their own. Undivided Andhra Pradesh was a huge state and was becoming difficult to administer. Instead of focusing on the development of the state, KCR's family were interested in the expansion of their political power, and possibly even saw himself becoming the Prime Minister if there was a chance", he adds.

BJP Looking To Capitalise?

As the BRS goes into steady decline, with matters becoming worse after K. Kavitha's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, observers in Telangana feel that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may use the opportunity to make inroads into the state.

While BJP insiders suggest that the party may win up to eight seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, anywhere between five to six is a realistic number, others say. The BRS, on the other hand, may end up winning just two seats. While the Congress is set to become the single largest party (SLP) again in Telangana, the vacuum left by the BRS might be filled by the BJP because of the following reasons:

One, apart from KCR's family, very few leaders have a standing of their own. The BJP, on the other hand, has given ministries to state leaders in the past, providing evidence of representation in the union cabinet.

Two, the BRS does not have any major caste group backing them (apart from Velamas, but they are also a privileged community). BJP's BC outreach has had an impact, locals suggest. With Muslims with AIMIM and Congress, KCR doesn't seem to have a votebank to fall back on.

Three, defections may cost the BRS dearly. Also, Congress denying tickets to certain caste groups has had a massive backlash against them. Voters are upset about their group not being represented.

Four, while the BJP is accommodating some big names, the Congress faces allegations of nepotism. Peddapalli, Malkajgiri, Nagarkurnool, Khammam and Nalgonda candidates are somehow or the other belong or related to a political family.

Tracing The Decline

In 2001, an ambitious Rao quit the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) when he felt that a separate state was the only solution to do away with the alleged discrimination that the people of the Telangana region faced. He then founded the TRS and aimed to achieve a separate state for Telangana.

In an alliance with Congress, the TRS won five Lok Sabha seats in 2004 and KCR went on to become the Union Minister for Labour and Employment in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

In 2009, he announced a fast-unto-death, demanding the Telangana Bill be introduced in the Parliament. After a few days, the Centre agreed to his demands and a separate state was finally formed in 2014, after years of agitation and delay. As soon as KCR got comfortable in Telangana, he aimed to go it big.

He started focusing on the Marathwada region neighbouring Telangana which has a sizeable presence of Telugu-speaking communities. This also included places like Bhiwandi, Solapur and Mumbai, where artisan communities like Padmashalis (weavers) and the Munnurwars lived. Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BRS was expected to bite away some votes.

The BRS made its entry into the state via Nanded, which has historical ties with the Hyderabad as it was a part of the dominions of the Hyderabad Nizam. AIMIM found some success for the same reason too, after allying with VBA.

On one occasion, Rao visited the state with a cavalcade of more than 800 cars. MVA leaders began worrying about BRS' impact on their electoral prospects. But after BRS' defeat in the 2023 elections, defections ailed the party which resulted in a swift decline. Its state president Manik Kadam joined the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP.

The scene was uncannily similar in Telangana too, with some major faces switching over to the Congress and the BJP post-BRS' defeat in the polls.