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As INDIA develops cracks, BRS raises regional front pitch again; party to go for massive rejig in LS candidates
KTR appealed to Telangana voters to strengthen the hands of the BRS led by former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who can build up an alternative political force against the Congress and the BJP
Hyderabad
The cracks surfacing in opposition INDIA bloc have again rekindled the hopes of Bharat Rashtra Samithi to play a role at the national level, as party working president K T Rama Rao on Saturday said only regional parties had the capacity to stop the juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre.
Addressing the party workers of Jubilee Hills assembly constituency in Hyderabad, KTR said the Congress had neither strength nor ability to stop the Narendra Modi wave at the national level. The so-called alliance partners of the Congress were deserting it one after the other because of its sheer arrogance, he said.
“While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is embarking on a nationwide tour in the name of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, his friendly parties are deserting him, “Rahul Chhodo,” only because of the arrogance and hegemonic attitude of the Congress leadership,” the BRS leader said, adding that only Rahul Gandhi would remain in the INDIA block finally.
He said that the Congress had already thrown up its hands in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, as it had no strength to take on the BJP. “Only strong regional parties like BRS in Telangana, TMC in West Bengal, Janata Dal (U) in Bihar and Aam Admi Party in Delhi and Punjab have the ability to pull down the Narendra Modi government at the Centre,” he said.
He appealed to the Telangana voters to strengthen the hands of the BRS led by former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who can build up an alternative political force against the Congress and the BJP. In the coming Lok Sabha elections, they should vote for the BRS, as any vote for the Congress would only help the BJP, he said.
KCR may contest LS polls, to rejig MPs
A senior BRS leader familiar with the development said party president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is contemplating contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, while undertaking an overhaul of the party candidates.
During the recent review of the BRS parliamentary constituency-level party meetings held from January 3 to 22, there were suggestions from several party leaders that KCR should contest the Lok Sabha elections to sustain the image of the party at the national level.
“Till recently, the BRS generated a nation-wide debate on the Telangana model of development and its replication across the country. There is no better person than KCR to sustain this debate. In the wake of bickering in the INDIA bloc, it is better KCR himself take a plunge into national politics,” the party leader quoted above said.
KCR’s son and nephew T Harish Rao, who had convened these parliamentary constituency-wise review meetings, presented a report on the outcome of the meetings to KCR last week. “There is no decision yet on KCR contesting the Lok Sabha elections. The party will take a call after a thorough discussion,” the senior BRS leader said.
However, there is a talk that if KCR decides to contest the Lok Sabha elections, he might choose Medak parliamentary constituency, which he had represented in 2014. He resigned from the seat after he became the chief minister. Already, sitting Medak MP Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, contested the recent assembly elections from Dubbak and won the seat.
After learning a bitter lesson in the recent assembly elections in Telangana, wherein he retained 95% of the sitting MLAs which led to the party’s debacle, KCR is contemplating major changes in the list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
The BRS, at present, has nine Lok Sabha members out of 17 from Telangana, as against four of the BJP, three of the Congress and one of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. “Out of these nine sitting MPs, the BRS president might drop six MPs and replace them with fresh faces, especially in the constituencies where the Congress had won a majority of the assembly seats,” senior journalist and political analyst S A Zakir said.
He pointed out that during the just concluded review meetings of the BRS, party working president declared the names of only three candidates, including two sitting MPs – G Ranjit Reddy from Chevella and Khammam MP Nama Nageshwar Rao, besides former MP B Vinod Kumar from Karimnagar.
“In all the other Lok Sabha constituencies, KCR is expected to make major changes. His daughter and former MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha, too, may be shifted from her earlier constituency of Nizamabad to Malkajgiri,” Zakir said.
During the review meetings, a majority of leaders have also suggested to the party leadership not to repeat several candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, as they are facing severe anti-incumbency and hence, there should be a change in certain candidates, who stand no chances of winning.
