BRS gears up to restructure its Telangana unit ahead of silver jubilee
The party leadership is simultaneously planning to hold a series of meetings with the functionaries at the grassroot level to strengthen the organisational network
With the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the revamped form of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), entering its silver jubilee year of its inception next month, the party is gearing up for a complete restructuring and regaining its lost hold in the state by kicking up the Telangana sentiment all over again.
A BRS leader familiar with the developments in the party said while making preparations for the year-long silver jubilee celebrations, the party leadership is simultaneously planning to hold a series of meetings with the functionaries at the grassroot level to strengthen the organisational network.
BRS founder-president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who had hitherto been in a virtual political oblivion following the party’s debacle in the last assembly elections held in November 2023 and May 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the state, will get back into action and lead the “Telangana” movement again.
“After a gap of nearly seven months, KCR came to the Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters on February 19 to address the BRS extended executive committee meeting, where he made every attempt to boost the morale of the party leaders. Though he went back into his shell at his farmhouse, he is chalking out the plans for the coming days,” the BRS leader quoted above said.
According to him, KCR will hold a series of meetings with select BRS functionaries from every assembly constituency, starting next week. “During the meetings, he will assess the ground realities, give a new direction to them to face the electoral battles, including the local body elections, in the coming days and work out strategies to win back the confidence of the people by taking up the fight on the burning issues,” he said.
Apart from addressing constituency-level meetings, KCR is also planning to regularly visit Telangana Bhavan and make himself available to the cadre, as he was doing before becoming the first chief minister of Telangana in 2014. “He will focus on public issues, the alleged governance failures of the Congress-led government, and strategic planning to reclaim political ground in Telangana,” the party leader said.
In the coming months, KCR is planning to address a series of public rallies exposing the failures of the Congress government led by chief minister A Revanth Reddy. “Apart from that the BRS is going to launch an extensive campaign on social media and take up large scale digital campaigns to strengthen public engagement. The party wants to not only win back the confidence of the people, but also attract a new voter base,” the BRS leader said.
Political analyst and writer S Zakir said KCR appears to be aiming at reigniting the Telangana sentiment again to attract the people. “Telangana sentiment is the focal point of the BRS. Without uttering the name of Telangana, KCR cannot expect to come back to power,” he said.
He said issues like changes made Telangana Thalli statue and the state emblem by the Congress government, inability of Revanth Reddy to fight with the Centre on Telangana issues will definitely come into focus in the BRS campaign.
Another political analyst Rama Krishna Sangem said Telangana sentiment might not work for KCR every time. “It has been more than 10 years since the Telangana state was carved out. So, KCR would gain nothing by still blaming the previous Andhra rulers,” he said.
Moreover, KCR has lost the moral ground to raise Telangana, after he converted the TRS into BRS in October 2022 and announced contesting elections in other states, Sangem said, adding that KCR can expect to come back to power, riding on the failures of the Congress government.
Meanwhile, the BRS is planning a series of programmes during its silver jubilee year, starting April 27. A meeting of key party representatives will be held in Hyderabad in the second week of April. A massive public meeting is scheduled for April 27. The party will also form committees within a week to oversee the year-long celebrations.
“BRS is a child born out of history for the liberation of Telangana. Its 25-year journey is a significant chapter in the state’s socio-political evolution,” said party working president and KCR’s son K T Rama Rao.
He said BRS remained the true people’s party, committed to Telangana’s development. “We shall take up a series of programmes to expose the Congress government’s failures,” KTR said.