‘KCR is unlikely to attend any Opposition meet till the Assembly polls are over’.
With Telangana Assembly elections coming closer, the ruling party in the state, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), seems to be keeping an arm’s length from the Congress. This is apparently visible from its refusal to attend the grand Opposition meet convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, to be held later this month.
BRS leaders say it is less likely that K. Chandrashekhar Rao will attend any Opposition meet in the coming time till the Assembly elections are over. A BRS leader said, “KCR may not attend any Opposition meet because if he is seen with Congress, it will directly hurt the electoral prospects of the party in the state. BJP will get a chance to say that the party is doing drama by targeting the main Opposition as it is trying to ally with it at the national level.”
He further added, “It will also favour the Congress party which will, at the local level, say that the ruling party has become weak and is trying to come to common terms with the Congress. With such a narrative, Congress may get more benefit and more voters will come to Congress’ side. KCR is trying to fight anti-incumbency of two terms and such a move (being part of grand Opposition) will speed up voter sentiments to move towards other parties (BJP and Congress).”
Moreover, there are some surveys suggesting that the Congress will be victorious on majority of the 119 seats—a result of its motivated cadre after the Karnataka election victory. A BRS leader said, “There is no drastic change that some survey are showing like the Congress will take majority in the state. They have been stagnating and now there could be a push from senior leaders to conduct rallies and get into poll mode and they may have people backing them up. But that doesn’t mean the BRS will be number two. It has introduced so many schemes and all the legislators are working hard to successfully win the state for the third time.”
Experts believe that although the Karnataka elections has played a great role in boosting the Congress in the state, there may not be such a huge change in the number of seats for Congress. Last time, the grand old party had won 18 seats out of which 12 legislators had defected to BRS and one more had gone to the BJP. The Congress is left with around 5 seats.
A political analyst said, “The Congress is in a better position than last time. It may win more seats than the last time, but does not seem an equal competitor of BRS. Partly, the reason being that the party does not have a political figurehead who could be a vote-catcher. It does not have any leader like Siddaramaiah or D.K. Shivakumar who have been popular even before the campaigning had started. On the other hand BJP seems weak. It has become weaker after they lost the Karnataka Assembly elections held recently.”
Party insiders suggest that there are many leaders in the BJP who now want to switch to the Congress as they had adopted a wait and watch approach before the Karnataka elections. A party leader said, “After the saffron party’s defeat in Karnataka, there are many BJP leaders who are wanting to be a part of the Congress.”