Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President and former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR), who not too long ago strode like a colossus, now stares at what appears to be his political nemesis in the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The BRS in Telangana is facing a meltdown, as the party is unable to field credible faces to contest the Parliamentary elections.
The BRS, which once claimed to have pushed the Congress to the margins, now seems to be marginalised. KCR, who fancied himself as the ‘Father of Telangana’, finds himself isolated.
Largely, KCR has only himself to blame for his predicament. Seizing upon the separatist sentiment, he launched the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in 2001 and tied up with the Congress to gain political legitimacy and to enlarge the political footprint.
Things have changed since the heady days when he stormed to power in 2014. KCR missed a golden opportunity to get deeply entrenched in Telangana, like Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik did in Odisha.
The undoing for KCR was his disconnect from the people during his nine-year tenure in office. Having earned the dubious distinction of running the State Government from his farm house, he never even held a Janata Darbar to be accessible and meet the common people.
Janata Darbar, is a practice commonly followed by the Chief Ministers belonging to the Congress. Primarily, the idea is to mingle with the people, in order to receive petitions and address at least their basic concerns.
Ultimately he started buying his own publicity pitch about a strong, unshakable vote bank created by beneficiaries of his welfare schemes. The myth exploded, when Assembly elections results were out on December 3, 2023, ending the dream run of KCR.
The first to desert the sinking ship was KCR's strongest ally, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) supremo Assaduddin Owaisi. The AIMIM leader, who runs a chain of educational institutions in Hyderabad, can hardly do without the State patronage. Naturally, he was the first to wave the white flag and sue for peace with Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.
Against the backdrop of the BRS-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bid to topple the Congress Government in Telangana soon after Lok Sabha polls, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi publicly assured CM Reddy that he can comfortably run the Government to complete not only its five-year term in office, but also pitch for a successive second term in term in office.
KCR was the first to release the list of BRS candidates for all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, at a time when the Congress and the BJP were struggling to put together their lists. What was considered as the first-mover advantage, too, frittered away.
As many as four of those whose candidacy was declared pulled out of the electoral fray. These include G. Ranjit Reddy and Kadiyam Srihari's daughter Dr. Kadiyam Kavya. Sons of former Minister Ch. Malla Reddy and Telangana Legislative Council Chairman Gutta Sukhender Reddy, who initially showed inclination to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a BRS ticket, soon developed cold-feet. Most leaders are jumping ship, either joining the Congress, or crossing over to the BJP.
The scale and magnitude of desertions can be judged from the fact BRS Secretary-General K. Keshav Rao, and daughter and Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijaya Lakshmi have made up with the Congress. Several BRS leaders have joined the BJP.
Keshav Rao was Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and All India Congress Committee (AICC) incharge of Jharkhand. Now, the octogenarian leader describes his return to the Congress-fold as homecoming.
While one sitting MLA from Khairatabad in Hyderabad, Danam Nagender, joined the Congress and bagged the Secunderabad Lok Sabha ticket, more sitting MLAs are expected to quit BRS and join the Congress after the Lok Sabha elections. Several MLAs have met the CM in small groups, signalling their willingness to cross over.
It was only in the last Telangana State Assembly elections in 2018, KCR was a picture of confidence. As the Congress cobbled up a Grand Alliance with the TDP and the Left, KCR came out for campaigning. The one point that stumped the Congress was that it had to bring in the Andhras (the reference being to the Grand Old Party entering into pre-poll alliance with the TDP in 2018), in order to counter him in Telangana.
A confidant KCR cleverly played upon the separatist sentiments in Telangana to trounce the Congress. The Telangana-Andhra divide led to the bifurcation of the State.
Within four years, when the Congress forged an alliance with the TDP, KCR harped on the divide. It proved to be a gamechanger, as KCR won handsomely in the Telangana Assembly elections in 2018. Situation changed dramatically within the span of the next five years.
It was a role reversal in the State Assembly elections in 2023, when his party was humbled at the hustings, with Revanth Reddy leading an aggressive campaign against the BRS. Revanth Reddy did manage to dislodge the BRS Government.
How did such a dramatic change take place is no surprise. While maintaining a seeming distance from the BJP, KCR managed to garner the Muslim vote, which is sizable in Telangana.
At the same time, he did the BJP’s bidding, even while managing to maintain the veneer of secularism. In the passage of all crucial Bills of the Modi Government in Parliament, including the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill that Abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution and downgraded the State into Union Territory.
What is more, he supported the BJP by abstaining from voting on Triple Talaaq. On RTI Amendments, he made a U-turn and backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
KCR supported several controversial moves of the BJP, such as Demonetisation and GST. He extended his unstinted support. Besides, in all the crucial elections like that of the President and the Vice-President, he backed the BJP to the hilt.
For the first time in public life, KCR brazenly flashed his ‘Hindutva Card’, partially explaining his proximity to the BJP. Funds from the public exchequer were freely drawn. As State Chief Minister, KCR officiated in Hindu religious ceremonies.
In fact, KCR presented gold ornaments worth Rs 5.5 crore drawn from the public exchequer to the Tirumala Shrine. The Yadadri Temple was renovated at a staggering amount of Rs 1800 crore, under the guidance of Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swamy.
KCR personally performed Dwajasthambam (flag post) installed at the temple. His Cabinet colleagues were entrusted with various duties at different locations inside the temple complex. KCR performed Maha Kumbha Samprokshana, or anointing of the temple domes with holy waters collected from different rivers of the State.
Similarly, KCR was behind the iconic Statue of Unity of Ramanujacharya by Jeeyar Swamy. KCR famously performed several Yagna or Sacrifices by involving hundreds of Vedic Pandits.
KCR played the games that suited the BJP. For instance, he undertook visits to States like West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi, ostensibly to cobble up a Third Front, but actually aimed at dividing the secular vote, which suited the BJP. For this purpose, KCR rechristened his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) as Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
KCR met different Opposition leaders like All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, BJD supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, besides Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thakre in Maharashtra. Apparently his Third Front move was aimed at weaning away these parties from the Congress, thus weakening the Opposition.
When the political parties understood his game plan, they became wary of him. Eventually his plan for a Third Front to suit BJP, fell through and KCR was forced to abandon it. And his so-called national ambitions of KCR crash-landed and finally he lost power in his own home-State of Telangana in 2023.
As the Muslims saw through the game plan of KCR, they moved away from him. As a result, the KCR votebase began to shrink, resulting in his inevitable defeat.
Voter-fatigue is palpable, with unkept and failed promises like making a Dalit the first Chief Minister of Telangana; providing double-bedroom houses for the poor; ration cards; and jobs for the youth.
With his image dented, the brazen support to the BJP cost him his credibility. For KCR, it is difficult to defend or convincingly explain his actions. Sections of society that initially supported him, became wary of him, leading to the erosion of his vote bank. KCR will find it hard to hold his flock together.