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Journalism of Courage
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) that has appeared to struggle since its drubbing in the 2023 Assembly polls and last year’s Lok Sabha elections received a shot in the arm this week after its chief K Chandrashekar Rao, in a rare public appearance, addressed party leaders at the BRS executive meeting in Hyderabad.
Rao, popularly known as KCR, had been away from the public eye since his party’s defeats and had even been giving Assembly proceedings a miss. His “reappearance” comes at a time when the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government is facing flak over the alleged undercounting of Backward Classes in the caste survey.
KCR’s announcement of holding statewide agitations throughout the year to mark the silver jubilee of his party (which came into existence as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2001) to “safeguard the rights of the people of the state” has enthused his party colleagues.
“KCR has been active behind the scenes and now has come out to challenge the Congress government. His address as well as the points he made on February 19 have surely lifted the morale of the cadre and leaders. It has also sent out a message that the BRS is here to stay,” said a BRS district office-bearer in Nagarkurnool district.
In his address, the former Chief Minister urged his BRS colleagues to build the party from the grassroots and promised the people of Telangana that the “BRS would stand by them as they suffer under the Congress regime”.
Addressing the media, BRS working president K T Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, said a clear roadmap had emerged from the five-hour meeting. “We have seen farmers, students, autorickshaw drivers and even realtors have died by suicide due to the Congress’s bad governance,” he said.
KTR, the son of the former CM, said the BRS would hold a big event in Hyderabad in April to launch the party’s “forward-looking” plan. Senior party leader and KCR’s nephew T Harish Rao has been tasked with organising the public meeting.
The decisions taken in the meeting also indicate that the BRS is “looking ahead”. For instance, the party’s decision to reserve 53 seats for women after delimitation and one protest a month on key issues are signs that the BRS is keen to take on the Congress government.
“If you see, a lot of decisions taken did not dwell on the past. They showed the BRS’s intent to take on the Congress government, which has been spreading false propaganda that the BRS is down and out. The meeting is a fresh starting point for the BRS,” a senior party leader said.
Some of the other decisions such as training sessions for party leaders, a major reshuffle, constituting one committee in each district for farmers, workers, women and students, and the party’s reiteration of its secular stand are also being seen as efforts by the BRS to regain lost ground.
Targeting the Congress government for “failing to get anything for Telangana from the Centre”, KTR said the BJP as well as the Congress has eight MPs each from the state but all of them “failed to represent the state’s interests”. He also accused Revanth Reddy of “misleading the people” and demanded a debate on the floor of the House on the financial condition of the state.
With the father-son duo back at the centre stage, BRS leaders are convinced of “good times” ahead. “There is a certain command that KCR has over the people and him guiding the party is invaluable,” said a party leader.
A section of BRS leaders, however, believes that KTR and party MLC K Kavitha being at the forefront of attacking the Congress government was a sign that KCR had always been in action. “He (KCR) has always been the guiding light for the party even though he had not appeared in public to make speeches,” a leader said.
Another leader said there was “no word above KCR’s even now”, adding, “We are happy that he came out to greet the people so they could see for themselves that he has been active behind the scenes.”
