What is happening between BJP and BRS in poll-bound Telangana?

Vibha Sharma

Advertisement

Chandigarh, October 4

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s revelation on Tuesday that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi wanted to join the NDA after the 2020 Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections triggered a major controversy and war of words between the ruling BRS and the BJP in Telengana.

While it is natural for two rivals to target each-other in a poll-bound state, in this case it also appeared as if PM Modi was trying to dispel some perceptions/notions in the minds of the electorate with his surprise statement.

Addressing a rally in Nizamabad, PM Modi claimed that Chief Minister and BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao had approached him after the GHMC polls, hoping to join the NDA but he refused the request.“After the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, KCR came to meet me in Delhi and said he wanted to join NDA. He also asked me to extend support to him. I told him (KCR) that due to his deeds, we cannot be associated with him,” PM Modi was quoted as saying.

He also said KCR used to welcome him at the airport, which “he suddenly stopped doing after the elections”.

Notably, not only has KCR not been receiving PM Modi at the airport as per the protocol, he is also one of his most vociferous critics.

However, his party—BRS—is not to be a part of the INDIA alliance against the ruling BJP at the centre, thereby leading to speculations regarding its stance.

According to the third key angle in Telangana politics—Congress—BRS and BJP had made a “secret pact and are forming an alliance to defeat it” in the forthcoming Assembly polls.

BRS was “cosying up to the BJP after criticising it and PM Modi for months,” said Congress leaders.

“Fighters not cheaters”, says BRS

Retorting to PM Modi’s remarks, KCR’s son KT Rama Rao shot back saying that it was in fact his party which had rejected BJP’s advances, questioning “why should BRS ally with a party which didn’t even get deposits in 105-assembly segments” in the last elections.

Issuing a detailed statement, KTR said: “BRS has never allied with anyone during polls ever since Telangana was formed despite several requests. In fact it is the opposition that have come together setting aside their ideological differences to defeat the formidable KCR garu. In 2018, Biggest Jhoota Party through its state president Dr K Laxman sent feelers to ally with BRS. Could the offer have been made without the approval of his Delhi bosses? BRS had rejected the offer outright the very next minute that it was made. The political tourists with selective amnesia who are fabricating stories should know this.”

“Simple common-sense question: Why should BRS ally with a party which didn’t even get deposits in 105-assembly segments? Why does BRS need support of BJP in GHMC elections when we had the strength to form on our own? We are fighters not cheaters,” KTR concluded.

So what is happening in Telengana?

BJP national general secretary and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar slammed KTR for making “highly objectionable” remarks against PM Modi, claiming that he was “unable to digest the resounding success” of his Nizamabad rally.

“It is the persons at the helm in the ruling BRS dispensation in Telangana, who are cheating people and minting money,” Sanjay said, reiterating PM’s charge that KCR made a “vain bid to get the support of BJP in previous GHMC elections on the pretext of joining the NDA.”

Congress, meanwhile, said that a “dark deal” between the two parties was now out in the open.

Congress chief Revanth Reddy was quoted as saying that “there is no need to specifically mention or doubt their (BRS and BJP) friendship now that the PM himself has come out openly about their hidden deals.”

In the December 2020 GHMC polls,BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 56 out of 150 seats and BJP 48 seats.

The Bandi Sanjay angle

Observers say the BJP has also faltered on the strategy front by removing a “popular” state president.

Though Bandi Sanjay has been appointed the national general secretary, they say his removal from the post of Telangana unit president has “not gone down well with” cadres and supporters.In fact there was also a report of an alleged suicide attempt in the Khammam district after his removal earlier this year.

“Through his aggressive politics and targeting the KCR government, Sanjay had put BRS on the back foot. He created an atmosphere in favour of BJP with his famous ‘Praja Sangram Padyatra’, which was also praised by PM Modi.His removal from the post and impression as if BJP had sacrificed him and saved KCR’s daughter K Kavitha in the Delhi liquor policy case, which seems to have not gone down well with the cadres,” they add.

Kavitha and Delhi liquor policy case

After the arrest of senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia, the buzz in Telengana political circles was that Kavitha would soon follow suit in the Delhi liquor policy case.

Some observers believethat BJP had to “overhaul” its Telengana strategy following surveys indicating that Congress was closing on BRS.

“KTR’s meetings with senior BJP leaders Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh in Delhi also indicated a truce between the rivals to fight a common enemy, Congress in thiscase. The impression was that in the bargain, the money laundering charge against Kavitha had been put on the back burner,” they say.

A comment by Sanjay against Kavitha had also evoked strong protests against him from BRS leaders and cadres, who called it an “insult to the entire womenfolk”.

BRS leaders staged protests across Telangana and Delhi, demanding strong action against Sanjay.

Observers say removing Sanjay “helped Congress, making it a direct contender against BRS while pushing BJP to the third spot.”