What is happening in BRS? Is it on a resurgent mode?

HYDERABAD: What is happening in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS)? Is it on a resurgent mode and come-back trail? Are the narratives of the Congress Government coming a cropper on its much-touted six guarantees; and the proximity of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to the BJP working in favour of the BRS?

It’s just four months since the regional party, which had espoused the cause of a separate Telangana and realised the same after a protracted battle for over 13 years, took its electoral drubbing after staying in power for 10 years.

After an uninterrupted decade-long term of office, the regional party, which has tried to put the new state on a turbo mode for an accelerated growth in terms of development of infrastructure and a vibrant economy, has carefully looked within and introspected as to what went wrong in 2023 Assembly elections.

Party supremo K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) seems to be on a comeback trail. This may not mean that he would replace Revanth Reddy as the Chief Minister and take over the reins of the State anytime soon. But the BRS, which is being estranged by some leaders – mostly those who do not enjoy a great voter base minus the party affiliation and those who donned the roles of erstwhile sidekicks of KCR, seems to be raring to go.

How much of its efforts will bear fruit and translate into remarkable victories in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections may still be a speculation.

As Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana in the Congress Government Mallu Bhatti Vikaramarka told in an interview to NewsTAP, the BRS is just down, but definitely not out.

The BRS, from the day one of its poll debacle, has commenced the exercise of course-correction. It is working hard to prove that it is resilient and that it shall not give up on its avowed policies. Despite several odds poised against the party after its defeat in the Assembly elections, it is deeply entrenching itself into the people, especially at the grassroots level.

A palpable change in the party organisation is that several senior leaders, especially those who were elected to the Assembly, have been taken into confidence. The alleged ‘unilateral approach’ is no longer visible in the working style of the party. The BRS, which fought the Congress and the BJP singlehandedly, is continuing its unrelenting fighting spirit.

How can one justify that BRS is on reboot mode?

The party conducted reviews of each and every Assembly constituency and dissected the reasons for the debacle. The leadership, especially working president K T Rama Rao and former Finance Minister T Harish Rao, and some senior leaders, including former Cabinet colleagues of KCR, have lent a patient hearing to the points of view of the field level workers and party delegates in the review meetings.

One staunch argument that has come forth for debate is that the party should consider a reverse-transformation from being the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), its original form. Legal luminaries and constitutional experts are seriously working on how to take this demand forward with the Election Commission of India and fit the same in the scheme of things under the provisos of the Representation of People Act, according to B Vinod Kumar, party candidate for Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat and former TRS leader in Lok Sabha.

A similar observation was made by working president K T Rama Rao and Harish Rao too. The party, per se, is not averse to the idea.

Taking the leaders and cadres of all levels into confidence seems to have been taken seriously and is now put to practice.

Constituency incharges for Assembly segments

KTR appointed incharges for all Assembly segments under every Lok Sabha constituency in the State on Tuesday. These leaders, who are either sitting MLAs or former MLAs or, in some places, chairmen or former chairmen of district cooperative central banks, corporations, or local bodies, have been tasked with ensuring maximum voting in favour of the party and also making the various public meetings of the top leaders a big success.

The primary responsibility of these constituency incharges is to ensure perfect coordination with the MP candidates and the goal is obviously winning as many Lok Sabha seats as possible.

Congress Government’s failures

The party leaders are effectively taking the unfulfilled promises – especially the pompous announcement of implementing the Six guarantees (in reality, they are 13 in number that were packaged under six heads) in the first 100 days of coming to power. Tardy progress of “Rythu Bandhu” assistance, failure in implementing Rythu Bharosa (Rs. 15,000 per acre assistance to asset owners and tenant farmers), Rs. 12,000 assistance to farm labourers, waiver of Rs 2 lakh farm loans, and Rs. 500 bonus to paddy are forming the crux of the campaign.

Besides these, the leaders are also discussing non-implementation of “Vidya Vikasam”, delay in decision on the distribution of already-built double-bed room houses, and the lacunae in the effective implementation of several other schemes.

While the Congress Government proposed to make a spectacle of the sagging of pillars of Medigadda barrage and seepage of water in Annaram barrage of the magnificent Kaleshwaram project, the plan seemed to have fallen on its face as it has drained out water from the humongous reservoirs, pushing the agriculture sector to a corner.

The drought conditions are working against the government and the BRS is trying to curry favour from the situation and is drawing a parallel between the regimes of KCR and Revanth Reddy. Especially, the lack of immediate steps to build a coffer dam and protect the Medigadda reservoir and thereby ensuring a better water management; and frequent power outages hurting the sentiment of the farmers badly are a big draw.

BJP’s national narrative not working?

Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to exploit the situation by thrusting the national narrative as the upcoming elections are for the Lok Sabha, the BRS is sparing no efforts to convert the anti-Congress vote (which may be too early to anticipate) in its favour.

The frequent visits into the districts by top leaders and KCR’s plan to undertake a bus yatra after the distribution of B forms to the Lok Sabha contestants on April 18 are kindling a hope among the cadres that the party is on a resurgent mode.

The white papers published by the Government on state finances, electricity and irrigation sectors are being now portrayed as nothing but a vilification campaign against the previous government. The judicial inquiries commissioned by the Revanth Reddy regime into Kaleshwaram Project and two power projects are seen more as part of pursuing vendetta politics.

Revanth Reddy-BJP in cahoots?

KTR’s charge that Revanth Reddy would join the BJP soon after the Lok Sabha elections breaking away from the Congress fearing pending cases; the arrest of KCR’s daughter Kavitha Kalvakuntla in Delhi Liquor Police case; the frequent statements of Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay that the first enemy was the BRS and the Revanth Reddy Government should be allowed some time before it settles down; and the Chief Minister’s “bade bhai” description and eulogy for Prime Minister Narendra Modi are being used by the BRS to suggest that the Congress and the BJP are in cahoots with each other.

While most surveys are skeptical about the BRS prospects in the Lok Sabha elections, a latest survey by an agency C-PAC that projected a win for the BRS in Eight Lok Sabha seats, as opposed to six for the Congress, two for the BJP, and one for the MIM is being beamed across social media. This agency predicted 40 seats to the BRS in the recent Assembly elections which was almost spot on.

A latest news report about the internal dissensions and infighting by the Congress is making the election an uphill task to the party has also buoyed the BRS rank and file, as they are taking it seriously based on the slant of the publication that has come up with the report.

Social media buzz

The BRS has amplified its social media buzz highlighting the vendetta politics, Congress-BJP proximity, the various incidents that were projecting the Congress regime in a poor light, the coordination amongst the BRS cadres and also the weaknesses of the estranged leaders of the party.

The social media has become an integral part of the political narrative of all parties and also has proven to be a major influencer, especially in the days of polarization of mainstream media on either side of the political coin.