Left behind in Oppn unity project, BRS back-pedals, say will focus on building itself

It was with much flourish that the party had earlier this year launched its national plans – even changing its name from Telangana Rashtra Samithi so as to bring in ‘Bharat’. Over the past few months, KCR met leaders of several parties and declared his intention to bring them together in an anti-BJP, anti-Congress tie-up.

He also announced plans to contest elections outside Telangana, starting first from bordering areas in Maharashtra, where he also held rallies.

However, these plans have taken a hit after the Congress success in Karnataka, rendering a new wind in its sails and making it unlikely that the Congress would not be the fulcrum of any Opposition unity bid now. As the main rivals in Telangana, which is bound for polls later this year, the BRS can hardly be seen as an adjunct in an alliance dominated by the Congress.

While acknowledging that KCR was giving up on his efforts to unite like-minded parties, Rama Rao stressed Thursday that the party was not cutting back on its ambitions, and said it wanted to become “the principal Opposition party in the country”. “After trying to communicate with other Opposition parties, we have come to the conclusion that the BRS will be taken to the national level as a new national party because there is a vacuum there. The main opposition parties have failed,’’ he said.

Rama Rao, KCR’s son who holds several crucial portfolios in the Telangana government, also questioned the basis of an Opposition unity tailored around opposition to one man (indicating Prime Minister Narendra Modi). “The country does not need such unity on the basis of blind hatred against one party or one man.”

In his bid for a non-BJP, non-Congress alliance, KCR had in his national travels in recent months met JMM leaders Shibu Soren and Hemant Soren (who is also the Jharkhand CM), DMK leader and Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, Shiv Sena president and ex-Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, JD(S) chief and ex-PM H D Deve Gowda, ex-Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, RJD leaders Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar of the JD(U), as well as former Gujarat CM and ex-BJP leader Shankersinh Vaghela.

While its Opposition unity plans may have shrunk, the BRS is still hopeful of making an impact in the Maharashtra civic body elections, which are due soon. KCR has addressed four public meetings in the state and launched a training camp for those joining the BRS.

BRS ally AIMIM, which also has ambitions for the same Maharashtra areas, had earlier said that BRS plans would not alter its. Asked about Rama Rao’s statement on Thursday regarding the Opposition and its focus on Modi, the AIMIM said: “Questions should be asked of K T Rama Rao as to why they have suddenly withdrawn from the fight against the BJP.”

Telangana PCC president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said KCR seems to have finally realised that only the Congress can be the main national opposition party. “The mask is off the BRS’s face. We have been saying that the BJP and BRS are the same. Till now, the BRS and KCR put up a charade that they were fighting against the BJP,” Vikramarka said.

Referring to the Karnataka factor, he added: “The Congress win in the state also seems to have influenced the BRS’s decision. The Congress is coming back strongly in Telangana and the BRS knows that it needs to concentrate on the state first rather than elsewhere.”

Rama Rao said Thursday that the Karnataka result was more a rejection of the BJP government than a vote for the Congress. “India needs an election and selection, not a rejection,” he said, adding that the BRS would win at least 90-100 seats and KCR would return as CM for the third time.

In an informal interaction with reporters, Rama Rao also took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying he should start an NGO instead of running a political party as he was not serious about politics still. He questioned Rahul’s decision to skip campaigning for the Gujarat elections to carry on with his Bharat Jodo Yatra, and said he was now holding a “Mohabbat ki Dukaan” event in the US.

Reacting to the BRS decision to distance itself from other Opposition parties, BJP chief spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao said “wisdom has finally dawned on KCR and BRS”. “Better late than never. They have realised that one can’t oppose a party simply for personal and political gains,’’ he said.