NEW DELHI: BRS faces defections amid political turmoil; KCR reassures party, Congress manoeuvres to counteract losses, impacting Telangana’s political landscape.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led by former chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR), which derived a blank in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, is grappling with defections of its assembly lawmakers resulting in the demotivation of its rank and file making the party’s ship unsteady.
The former CM and the BRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao is having a series of meetings with the party leaders including district presidents and elected leaders at the Erravelli farmhouse to take stock of the post-election situation and keep the leaders together.
A BRS leader said, “He (KCR) has tried to talk to the leaders when he got the information that such and such leaders are leaving the party. But they are still leaving. Because they have financial commitments and the money remains with the ruling party. Also, Congress has a thin majority and that is why they are trying to strengthen their numbers. The whole process could help BJP in the coming time as they will say that both the parties were involved in horse trading and the saffron camp is the only camp which did not do it.”
The Congress high command initially opposed to splits within the party fearing gains for the BJP, now appears resigned to the induction of more lawmakers. This shift could potentially alter the political landscape in Telangana, benefiting the BJP.
A Congress leader said, “Before elections general secretary organisation KC Venugopal had said to The CM not to try to break the party but now it seems that the high command is okay with the induction of more lawmakers.”
Interacting with BRS workers at the farmhouse, KCR inspired the party leaders by telling them that it is the party that produces leaders and that defection by leaders doesn’t impact the party.
“If one leader goes, the party will produce 10 new leaders,” he said.
However, there is an understanding among experts that the party has lost the momentum to go upwards and is unable to manage its status quo.
Furthermore, Congress party insiders suggest that the grand old party may also be engaging with a dozen more legislators to attract them, potentially matching the six legislators already defected, thus equaling the BRS’s prior defection of 12 lawmakers from Congress during its time in power.
A senior BRS leader in the state said, “Congress in its manifesto for Lok Sabha elections had said that the party will make stern amendments to the anti-defection law so that no elected leader can jump the ship, but now what we all are seeing is its chief minister practising activities against the party’s recent manifesto.”
With the latest defection, the BRS strength in the Assembly has come down to 32 from the 39 seats it won in the State Assembly Elections of 2023. The party had won the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly seat too, which fell vacant after the death of BRS MLA Lasya Nandita. A by-poll to the seat was held in May 2024 and won by Congress candidate Narayanan Sri Ganesh.