No truth in it, says BRS, as Modi claims KCR sought to join NDA

BRS leaders, including senior minister T Harish Rao, dismissed the claim. “Modi can say anything at any place. There is no truth in this,’’ Rao said.

BRS Politburo member B Vinod asked why Modi had raised this after nearly three years. “Why did the PM not talk about this till now? There is no truth in these claims,’’ Vinod said.

Taking aim at both BJP and BRS, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi posted on X, “Today Modi ji openly accepted what I had said — BRS means BJP Rishtedaar Samiti. The BJP-BRS partnership has destroyed Telangana in the last 10 years. People are intelligent and have understood their game — this time they will reject both of them and form a Congress government with six guarantees.”

During his speech, Modi said: “Earlier, KCR used to receive me at the airport, but suddenly he stopped. After the BJP won 48 seats in the municipal elections, KCR needed the party’s support. He came to meet me in Delhi and requested that he join the NDA. I said, ‘We will sit in the Opposition but will not support him, as I cannot be associated with his deeds’. The BJP government at the Centre gave funds to the BRS government meant for the welfare of the people of Telangana, but that money was looted and misappropriated by the BRS.”

VIDEO | “I want to reveal a secret today. After the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, KCR came to meet me in Delhi and said that he wanted to join NDA. He also sought support from me in the elections. I told KCR that due to his deeds, Modi cannot be associated with him,”… pic.twitter.com/bnvuRNo8gU

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 3, 2023

Modi added: “KCR told me he wanted to hand over the reins to KTR (his son K T Rama Rao). I asked, ‘Are you a king to pass on the throne? Only people of Telangana can decide that’.”

Attacking Modi, BRS spokesperson Manne Krishank said the PM should go to Bhagyalakshmi temple at Charminar and swear that he is telling the truth. “Next time a CM goes to meet the PM, he should take a camera and record because Narendra Modi can stoop to any level with lies for political benefit,’’ he added.

Modi also criticised the Congress and BRS for their “dynasty politics”, saying this had led to corruption. “Opposition parties have made loktantra into loot tantra,’’ he quipped.

Like in his Chhattisgarh speech Tuesday, Modi also attacked the Congress over the caste census demand, using Rahul Gandhi’s call for ‘Jitni aabadi utna haq’ to accuse the Opposition party of gross injustice to minorities. “It is like backstabbing the minorities,” he said, interpreting the call to mean that the minorities being a minority deserved lesser access to resources.

The PM also raised the merger of the Hyderabad princely state with the Indian Union after Independence, referring to it as “liberation”, as the BJP has been doing.

He said that “a son from Gujarat” (meaning Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel) had ensured “liberation” from Nizams, and that “another son of Gujarat (Modi) has come for your prosperity, development and welfare”.

Referring to Bharat Biotech, based in Hyderabad, which had developed Covaxin during the Covid pandemic with the help of the ICMR, the PM said: “Telangana has talent everywhere. Telangana made a vaccine for Covid-19, and gave it to the world.”

Earlier, Modi inaugurated or laid the foundation stone of multiple development projects for Telangana worth more than Rs 8,000 crore.

BJP as a rising force

In the December 2020 GHMC elections, the BJP had won 48 seats, in an eye-opening performance for the BRS (then the Telangana Rashtra Samithi), which had got 56 seats. The AIMIM had won 44 and the Congress 2 seats.

In the 2016 GHMC elections, held two years after the formation of the separate state of Telangana, the BRS had won nearly double the seats – 99 – while the AIMIM had got 44, the Congress 2 and the BJP only 4.

To win the posts of mayor and deputy mayor, the TRS needed 76 votes, and in February 2020, went on to secure the same after the AIMIM withdrew and supported it to keep the BJP out.

The Hyderabad civic polls were the first indication of the rising BJP clout in the state, after having performed dismally in the December 2018 Assembly elections, winning only one seat (T Raja Singh, Goshamahal seat). In November 2020, the party had wrested the Dubbaka Assembly seat from the TRS.

Then again, in the bypoll held in November 2021 for the Huzurabad Assembly seat, the BJP had won, defeating the TRS candidate.

KCR’s power play

While seen as a fence-sitter through most of the tenure of the Modi government, the BRS has hardened its stance against it. This coincided with the Enforcement Directorate’s expanding investigation into the Delhi excise scam, with KCR’s daughter K Kavitha among those under probe.

Before the INDIA alliance came into shape, KCR was seen travelling across the country as well as hosting Opposition leaders in a bid to bring parties on a common platform against the BJP. The renaming of the party as Bharat Rashtra Samithi from Telangana Rashtra Samithi was seen as part of the same national ambition.

However, about the same time as the INDIA formation started coming into shape, KCR began to retreat, and is now focused on winning back power in the state.