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KCR’s tussle with rising BJP takes political centre stage
TRS transforms into Bharat Rashtra Samithi as part of CM’s anti-BJP strategy; state govt enters into collision course with governor; raids by central agencies, TRS MLAs’ poaching allegation and KCR’s daughter accused of role in Delhi liquor policy scam raise political heat
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Telangana has faced a politically turbulent 2022, with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which has shed its regional tag to transform into Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), entering into a confrontation with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, in particular.
With less than a year left for the assembly elections in the state, the political atmosphere has already started witnessing a lot of heat and dust. The by-election to the Munugode assembly seat in the Nalgonda district has set the mood for the upcoming elections. The ruling TRS beat the BJP by over 10,113 votes.
While KCR began the campaign in earnest to retain power for the third successive term, the BJP has a lot of positive takeaways during the year, and it sees an opportunity to conquer the southern state. For the Congress, there is nothing much to cheer about as it continues to struggle from internal bickering, though the upcoming election is a do-or-die battle for the party.
BJP EMERGES AS A MAJOR POLITICAL FORCE
The major development in Telangana in 2022 is the emergence of the BJP as a political force in the state, relegating Congress to the third position. Fresh from the handsome victory in the by-election to the Huzurabad assembly seat in November 2021, the BJP stepped up its offensive against the KCR government and the party.
State BJP president Bandi Sanjay took an aggressive posture against the state government. The year began with the arrest of Sanjay in Karimnagar while he was undertaking a “Deeksha” at his office in protest against the arbitrary transfer of government employees through a controversial government order 317.
Subsequently, Sanjay started a state-wide padayatra (foot march) in the name of “Praja Sangrama Yatra,” attacking the KCR government for not implementing the pre-poll promises and promoting the Modi government. As the year comes to a close, Sanjay completed five phases of padayatra, braving arrests and hurdles created by the state government.
The BJP national leadership, too, sensed the possibility of the party wresting power from KCR in the coming elections if it puts up a little more effort. To galvanise the party cadre, the BJP held its national executive committee meeting in Hyderabad on July 2, 3 and 4, attended by top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda.
Modi visited Telangana four times in the last year and addressed party workers twice at Begumpet airport, generating a lot of euphoria among the cadre. Other national leaders like Nadda and Shah frequently visited Hyderabad and parts of Telangana to address public rallies.
The BJP has also started attracting senior leaders from other parties to strengthen its hold in the districts where it had been on a weak footing all these years. The defection of sitting Congress MLA from Munugode assembly constituency Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy in August was a shot in the arm for the BJP.
Though Reddy lost the by-election necessitated by his resignation, the BJP vote share in the constituency went up from a mere 8 per cent to nearly 39 per cent. That was a big morale booster for the party.
KCR TAKES MODI HEAD ON
Sensing that the BJP poses a big threat to him in the upcoming elections, Telangana chief minister KCR started launching a counter-offensive against Modi directly.
He began his efforts to stitch up an anti-BJP front in the country by travelling from one state to another and holding discussions with like-minded forces like West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Jharkhand chief minister Hemanth Soren, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, Janata Dal (S) leader H D Kumara Swamy, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and NCP leader Sharad Pawar.
But he realised that none of these parties was interested in his proposal, as they intend to rope Congress into the alliance. So, he dumped the idea and began promoting himself as the only alternative to Modi and coming out with alternative political agenda.
KCR boycotted every meeting convened by the Prime Minister in Delhi, and whenever the latter came to Hyderabad, he gave a complete go-bye to the protocol formalities of receiving the Prime Minister – whether it was at the inauguration of Ramanujacharya statue at Shamshabad or the 20th-anniversary celebration of ISB.
As part of his anti-BJP strategy, KCR also entered into a collision course with governor Tamilisai Soundararajan by denying her protocol facilities wherever she went and refusing to allow her to address the mandatory budget session of the state assembly. As a result, the governor, too, took up an aggressive stand against the Telangana government.
The chief minister also took a firm stand against the BJP in the presidential and vice-presidential elections and extended support to the opposition candidates – Yashwant Sinha and Margaret Alva – respectively. At every possible opportunity, KCR and his cabinet colleagues attacked Modi and his alleged anti-farmer and pro-corporate policies.
TRS BECOMES BRS
After making a futile attempt to form an alternative non-Congress, non-BJP political front, KCR decided to convert his regional party into a national outfit. He began preparations to that effect in April at the party’s plenary, where he first spoke about his national mission and alternative agenda of bringing a qualitative change in national politics with a focus on agriculture. A resolution was adopted at the plenary asking KCR to enter national politics.
But it took nearly six months for KCR to bring his plan into action mode. It was on October 5, coinciding with the Dasara festival, KCR announced the renaming of his TRS as BRS instead of floating a separate “national party.” Two months later, it got the Election Commission of India approval.
On October 14, KCR opened the BRS national office in Delhi. A week later, he announced the party expansion in six states – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Haryana by setting up his party’s Kisan units. In the new year, KCR has decided to go aggressive with the national plan.
STATE POLICE VS CENTRAL AGENCIES
Another major development during the year was the confrontation between the central and the state governments over investigating agencies allegedly ‘targeting’ the ruling BRS leaders in the state.
After the KCR government withdrew the general consent given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for conducting a probe in the state, the party alleged that the BJP government at the Centre started ‘targeting’ the financial roots of the BRS by initiating Income Tax raids on a select real estate and infrastructure companies in August.
Around the same time, the Enforcement Department questioned a few TRS (now BRS) leaders allegedly involved in money laundering by investing in casino games being operated by Chikoti Praveen.
BJP leaders in Delhi dragged the name of KCR’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha into the Delhi liquor policy scandal. The CBI and ED conducted a series of raids on offices and residences of Hyderabad-based liquor manufacturer Ramachandra Pillai and his associates. Kavitha denied her role, but the CBI authorities came down to Hyderabad and grilled her as a witness in the case, much to the embarrassment of the BRS leadership.
Around the same time, the KCR government came up with a “sensational” expose of the BJP attempting to poach four TRS MLAs. Three people, who claimed to have closer links with the BJP bigwigs in Delhi, were arrested by the Telangana police.
KCR released the video clippings of the operation to the media, alleging how the BJP at the Centre was trying to destabilise the governments in the opposition-ruled states. The BJP challenged the case in the high court and Supreme Court but in vain. The SIT, constituted by the KCR government to probe the poaching issue, brought to the fore names of BJP national general secretary B L Santhosh and its Kerala leader Tushar Vellapally in the episode. However, they managed to avoid questioning by the Telangana police by moving the courts.
The KCR government also ordered a raid by the officials of the commercial tax department on the infrastructure company promoted by BJP leader Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy on the charges of evasion of GST.
The Centre launched a counter-offensive against the TRS government. ED conducts raids on TRS leaders in connection with alleged irregularities in granite exports. Raids were also conducted by the Income Tax authorities on the residences and institutions run by state labour minister Ch Malla Reddy.
HUGE LOSS TO KCR DREAM PROJECT
Besides the heated political climate, Telangana witnessed a major climatic change during the monsoon season, with heavy rains causing floods to the Godavari river. In July, heavy rains ranging from 140 mm to 347 mm in the catchment areas of the river wreaked havoc on the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project in Telangana, one of the largest lift irrigation schemes in the world, causing a loss of around ₹1500 crore.
Of the two major pump houses, one was restored within three months, and the second one at Medigadda is yet to be restored to normalcy.
Political analyst and author Sriram Karri said 2023 would be a testing time for KCR as the state enters the election year. “A decade in power, the BRS chief, faced with growing and ubiquitously palpable anti-incumbency, marked by failed promises, will only hope the anti-BRS vote is split between the two main opposition parties,” he said.
BJP state president Bandi Sanjay and Congress chief A Revanth Reddy, though facing stiff internal rivalry, will be using padayatra to win the threshold point of majority. Other smaller players and parties, too, will try their luck, making 2023 the most defining in a decade, Karri said.
