Telangana elections: Running on statehood fumes, the KCR bandwagon grinds to a halt | Political Pulse News

Just months ago, KCR had put his hat in the ring for this, rechristening the Telangana Rashtra Samithi as the BRS, and travelling across the country holding meetings with regional straps, from West Bengal to DelhiTamil Nadu to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh to Jharkhand, and Maharashtra to Karnataka.

The declared, or undeclared, understanding was that KCR would help these parties win elections in their respective states. The BRS also declared its intention to field candidates in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and other states.

Giving his national profile another boost, KCR had extended cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to families of jawans killed in the Galwan Valley clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand and elsewhere.

Ironically, this national ambition of KCR has taken a hit at the same time as the statehood sentiment has waned in Telangana. It was the creation of the new state in 2014 that led him to his first win as the face of the agitation. Projecting a larger-than-life image in 2018 created enough buzz to fetch KCR a second term with a bigger mandate.

If a decade later, just the Telangana sentiment is not enough to sway voters, the BRS’s highly popular welfare schemes like Rythu Bandhu too didn’t work. Not only has the Congress snatched a win, the BJP, which had been written off, put up an unexpectedly strong show.

KCR himself lost from Kamareddy seat, though he won from his traditional constituency Gajwel by 32,000-plus votes.

One of the most pressing worries for KCR would be the future of his daughter and MLC K Kavitha, who is named in the Delhi excise policy case, in which the Central agencies have already snared top Aam Aadmi Party leaders. Out of power, KCR holds little bargaining power should the Centre go ahead with the investigation.

Plus, other BRS leaders, including KCR, may now be facing probes. The Congress has repeatedly promised probes into allegations of corruption in projects like the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation scheme.

The succession line should KCR choose to make way is clear. Son K T Rama Rao, who was elevated to the position of working president of the BRS, is seen as the next in line to lead the party. As minister of IT, Industries, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, he was one of the most powerful ministers in KCR’s Cabinet.

Suave and articulate, he is seen to have ensured that the IT scenario sustained in Telangana after the split from Andhra Pradesh, with the united state’s N Chandrababu Naidu seen as the face of the Information Technology revolution. Rama Rao is credited with having set up the IT hubs in two-tier cities in Telangana.

However, given that the BRS has been in power since Telangana was formed, being in the Opposition is perhaps the first real test of Rama Rao’s mettle.

Once the dust settles, and the party does a postmortem, it might wonder how the script went so wrong after the BRS was first off the blocks in declaring names for 115 of the state’s 119 Assembly seats around a month-and-a-half ahead of polls. Could the seasoned politician have failed so badly to read the public disillusionment with his ministers and sitting MLAs, most of whom were repeated, and the popular appeal of “development” on the ground vis-a-vis statehood?

Or, the fact that there was widespread discontent among the beneficiaries of the BRS government’s multifarious schemes? Rythu Bandhu recipients like small and marginal farmers, who form 72% of the beneficiaries, were unhappy that big farmers were getting more money. Dalit families, who were told they would get Rs 10 lakh Dalit Bandhu benefits each, on top of their Rythu Bandhu benefits, but didn’t, were among the first who demanded change in government.

Ultimately, not even KCR’s much-publicised November 29 “oath-taking for Telangana” – a day before polling – to invoke his fast-unto-death demanding introduction of the Telangana Bill in Parliament in 2009, didn’t do the trick.