The BRS’s woes continue – The Hindu

The political drama in Telangana that unfolded with the suspension of Kalvakuntla Kavitha last week is likely to trouble the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the main Opposition party in the State, which is confronting one issue after another. Ms. Kavitha was the BRS Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) and Telangana Jagruti President, and is also the daughter of BRS leader and former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.

The BRS is already grappling with a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, ordered by the Congress government in Telangana, to look into the findings by the Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh Commission of Inquiry. The Commission had probed alleged irregularities in the construction of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, leading to its inoperability. The open rebellion by Ms. Kavitha is another blow for the BRS. A day after her suspension for ‘anti-party’ activities, she tendered her resignation as MLC, and vowed to fight her detractors.

The BRS also faces a tough challenge in retaining the Jubilee Hills Assembly seat with the passing of the sitting member, Maganti Gopinath. Its popularity will be tested once the bugle for local body polls is sounded.

Another emerging issue is bypolls to a few Assembly seats being conducted if the Telangana Assembly Speaker decides to disqualify turncoat MLAs who joined the ruling Congress. The Supreme Court had ordered the disposal of the disqualification petitions within three months.

The ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are preparing for the prestigious local body polls. In contrast, the BRS is in a state of confusion — Ms. Kavitha has also blamed a cousin and former Irrigation Minister, T. Harish Rao, and former Rajya Sabha member Joginpally Santosh Rao for her woes which has irked her father as well as brother, BRS president K.T. Rama Rao.

Some women BRS leaders have tried to counter her but the response has been weak as this is an issue that involves the party’s first family. While the BRS leadership has been cautious on the issue of 42% quota for Backward Classes (BC) that has been envisaged by the ruling Congress in order to improve its electoral chances. Ms. Kavitha has made it clear that she intends taking up the BC quota slogan.

The party leadership is confident that they can handle any damage that she might cause — she may not attract many leaders to her fold and there is speculation that the ‘neglected’ second or third rung leaders may try and jump ship. To unsettle her, the BRS has engineered a split in the Telangana Jagruti, the cultural outfit that she had floated at the height of the Statehood movement.

BRS leaders are also watching to see whether Ms. Kavitha could embarrass the party by fielding candidates in the local bodies.

While the sarpanch elections are held on a non-party basis, the ZPTC and MPTC part of Panchayat Raj bodies are conducted using party symbols. After losing power in the Assembly elections in 2023, drawing a blank in the 2024 general election and shocked to have 10 of its MLAs defect to the Congress, the BRS can ill-afford to face more trouble.

In the 2019 local body polls, the BRS — it was called the Telangana Rashtra Samiti then — won 445 ZPTC seats and 3,556 MPTC posts in elections to 534 ZPTC and 5,659 MPTC vacancies in 32 districts. The Congress is now keen to bag a majority of the seats.

The BRS still has a chance to recoup if it is able to focus on the local body polls. Though its strategy on the 42% BC quota is still unclear, it faces an uphill task in taking on the resurgent Congress, which is banking on the BC quota issue to win.

Nevertheless, it will be a straight fight between the Congress and the BRS as the BJP is not a force to reckon with.

Amid the gloom, BRS leaders are hopeful that the legislators who defected will be disqualified, paving the way for another round of bye-elections. If this happens, the byelections will not only be a challenge to the BRS but also to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of the Congress, who can ill-afford to lose a seat.

Whether the BRS will be able to take on the might of the Congress in the event of bypolls will be keenly watched. Till then the BRS will have to find a way to manage its many troubles.

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