Rama Krishna Sangem
BRS supreme and former CM KCR will become politically more active now onward. This is the one major impact of BRS MLC K Kavitha coming out of Tihar central jail on bail granted by the Supreme Court on August 27, Tuesday. She went to jail in Delhi liquor scam that also imprisoned many other high profile persons like Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and former Dy CM Manish Sisodia.
Kavitha was in jail for about five and a half months. This period is undoubtedly a painful phase for KCR who was just recovering from the defeat in December 2023 assembly elections in Telangana. He never imagined that he would be unseated by Congress in the elections. Having put up with just 39 MLAs in the polls, KCR had to forego about a dozen of his MLAs to Congress subsequently.
He lost a by-election to the assembly. As his daughter Kavitha was arrested on March 15, KCR couldn’t fully focus on the Lok Sabha elections that came in May. He estimated that a BJP defeat, at least in Telangana, would help him leverage his political weight to secure release of Kavitha from jail. But, to his misfortune, BRS ended up with zero seats in the LS elections.
The former ruling party’s vote share to came down to around 14 per cent in the LS polls. As he himself said at a party meeting, KCR is boiling like a volcano since his daughter was sent to Tihar jail. But he was helpless. All sorts of theories were in circulation – that BRS would merge with BJP or join NDA – to secure her release. Of course, both BRS top leaders KTR and Harish Rao dismissed the rumors.
CM Revanth Reddy too commented that KCR was angling to become a Governor while his son KTR would be made the leader of opposition in Telangana assembly, if BRS merges with BJP. On the other hand, Telangana BJP leaders like union minister of state for home Bandi Sanjay and others had alleged that BRS would not be allowed to come close to BJP as the former was a spent force.
Mind games
Of course, these are all mind games, usually played in politics. Those who know KCR well can understand that he would not be a person easily to budge and merge with any other party. He is supremely confident of bouncing back as a force soon. His confidence is based on two possibilities: One, Congress government’s inability to fully implement its election promises within a year or so.
Next, is BJP’s weakness to expand in Telangnaa, in spite of winning 8 MLAs and 8 LS MPs. KCR knows well that neither Congress nor BJP has the stamina to sustain the energies they displayed in the recent elections. CM Revanth is the only Congress leader who wants his government to remain in power for the coming five years and more. Others in his party and government appear lacking appetite or killer instinct for power.
Even in BJP too, the state leaders are always relaxed. They till now banked on the image of PM Modi and left things at that. They never tried to expand their base in rural areas. The plan to woo Madigas through SC categorization was in fact chalked out by the BJP’s national leadership – Modi and Shah. It is doubtful if BJP can win a majority of local bodies, for which elections will be held soon.
Expect an aggressive KCR
Against his backdrop, we can expect an aggressive KCR in the coming days. BRS has still 20 plus MLAs in its kitty. The party is still a force in rural areas so that it can win a reasonably good share of seats in the coming local bodies elecitons. These local polls are an indication to any party’s strength at the ground level. BRS has enough resources and cadre. We need to see if Congress and BJP can outmatch KCR in the game.
