Is BRS preparing for early Assembly polls in Telangana?

As the Telangana Assembly election is scheduled to be held around December 2023 to elect its 119 members for the state’s Legislative Assembly, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), led by K. Chandrashekhar Rao, is seen to be in pursuit of early elections. A BRS leader said, “We are around six months away from elections. But it seems that KCR is preparing for early elections.”
There is talk in political circles that the BRS wants to have cordial relationship with BJP so that if BRS dissolves the Assembly early, the Election Commission will conduct the elections right after the dissolution. A senior BRS functionary said, “KCR has strong dislike for Assembly elections being held in parallel with the Lok Sabha elections.
In the last elections as well, he dissolved the Assembly around nine months earlier. Right now, he could be flirting with the idea of dissolving the Assembly so that the Assembly elections are held early, for he can get enough time to pull a different strategy for Lok Sabha elections.”
When KCR had decided to dissolve the Assembly in 2018, he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi thrice before declaring the dissolution. Drawing an analogy, Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao (KTR), son of KCR, working president for BRS and Telangana minister for Industries and Information Technology, met Amit Shah recently for the first time after he (KTR) had visited the national capital in June 2022, meeting Union minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri. However, BRS leaders denied that any political discourse was on the agenda and said that KTR’s Delhi visit was essentially meant for taking up various pending projects pertaining to Telangana. However, there is speculation that the meeting could have taken place for political negotiations.
Importantly, KCR has distanced himself from the grand Opposition meet and also suggested that he cannot be a part of a group (which is against PM Modi), sending a subtle message that the party is open for options and can swing both ways for alliance (for Lok Sabha), if need be. A BRS leader said, “It is going to be difficult for the BRS this time to remain in the Opposition. They would avoid being in the Opposition. Whether KCR allies with Congress or BJP or goes it alone for the general elections is to be seen. However, the party would be in pursuit of being a part of the government at the Centre. And this move will benefit us as more funds would be allocated for Telangana’s development.”
Moreover, the party has gone into election mode early as all the legislators of the party are repeatedly told not to swarm in the capital city (Hyderabad) and also advised to seriously work in their respective constituencies. A political analyst in the state said, “The electorate does not like the ‘act of disappearing’ from lawmakers and that is the major cause for anti-incumbency. So he wants them (legislators) to be in their constituencies and reduce that gap between people and MLAs. And this could make KCR reconsolidate his power in the constituencies which he has already won in the recent assembly elections.”
Political analysts suggest that if KCR is successful in influencing early elections, it could impact the poll results as the Congress would be caught in unawares.
“They would be less prepared and eventually less successful in elections and at the same time, BJP (if it helps KCR have early elections) will benefit the saffron party as well by keeping the grand old party within limitations before the Lok Sabha
elections.”