KOLKATA: The rationale behind undertaking the bus rally by KCR was to recover from the damages faced by the party after the decisive loss in the recently held assembly elections, according to party insiders.
The 17 day ‘Bus Yatra’ undertaken by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) head and ex chief minister of Telangana K. Chandrashekhar Rao have rejuvenated the street politics of the party, which has galvanized it’s cadre and increased its prospects of performance in the ongoing Lok Sabha election, according to party insiders.
The rationale behind undertaking the bus rally by KCR, according to party insiders, was to recover from the damages faced by the party after the decisive loss in the recently held assembly elections where the party leaders have been leaving the party for greener pastures. Many of them were also blaming the inactivity of KCR and also his unwillingness to connect with the masses.
A source privy to developments said, “KCR is saying that we will win eight to 12 Lok Sabha seats. He is repeatedly telling it to the cadre. He wants them to believe that we are retaining the seats which we have won the last time. And internally the party is believing that we should at least get 5 seats. That is the pursuit so that we can be a part of union cabinet.”
He further added, “KCR has been suggestive of the coming of coalition era post 2024 Lok Sabha elections and he wants the party to be part of any coalition. That is what he has said and that is what the party is hoping for. Whether it be INDIA bloc or NDA bloc he will go with the one whoever forms the government. That is why he is preparing big time for it.”
Moreover, the bus trip was being planned in such a way that there were roadshows in almost every parliamentary constituency, and one or two assembly constituencies. Earlier the leaders of various constituencies had demanded that KCR’s bus yatra be in their constituencies too. However, due to less remaining time upto elections and the hot weather conditions, it was decided to undertake the bus trip only in some constituencies.
A BRS leader said, “The Bus Yatra he has undertaken is getting a good and unexpected response. But we don’t think that the vote conversion will happen that easily. The way people are coming out in his rallies, they may not come out like that to vote for the party.
Moreover, with this, there has emerged a problem for BJP as the vote that was supposed to drift from BRS to BJP is now expected to remain with the BRS, which will damage the prospects of saffron camp. Eventually, it will help Congress to win more seats.”
In 2019, BRS (then TRS) had scored 9 seats out of the 17 with the vote share of around 35 per cent followed by Congress 3 seats and vote share of close to 25 per cent.
A political analyst said, “The party’s vote share is expected to decrease this time from 35 per cent and those votes can go both ways, towards Congress as well as BJP. Yet the trend suggests that more voters could go towards Congress. Apart from that, Muslims will consolidate behind Congress added with the trend favouring Congress party.
BJP will also increase its vote share and if it is successful in reducing the BRS on mere couple of seats, it will help them in their plan to emerge as the principal opposition party in the state.”