The sudden shift in strategy by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who has gone silent on the BJP while targeting the Congress, has sparked speculation in political circles ahead of the Assembly elections later this year.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) went all out against the Congress party but spared the BJP at three public meetings he addressed in different parts of the state over the last week.
Leaders of the Congress party, on the other hand, are not surprised by the development because they believe KCR has always had a secret agreement with the BJP.
“After the victory of Congress party in Karnataka elections, both BJP and BRS have taken a step back. KCR now sees Congress as the party which can defeat him,” senior Congress leader and former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir was quoted as saying.
He is not surprised that KCR has begun to target the Congress party for his attacks while sparing the BJP, which has been his main target for the last few years.
KCR’s speeches at public meetings in Nirmal, Nagarkurnool, and Gadwal over the last week confused political circles, as he went all out to attack the Congress party while avoiding criticizing the BJP.
The content, tone, and tenor of his speeches suggest a shift in strategy ahead of the Assembly elections in November-December 2023.
“This is simply part of a package between BRS and the BJP. The BJP has been using the same tactic in almost every state by threatening to use the CBI, ED, and other central agencies,” Shabbir said, referring to the allegations against KCR’s daughter K. Kavitha in the Delhi liquor policy case.
Kavitha, a former MP who is now a state legislator, was recently questioned by the CBI and ED.
The Congress leader pointed out that the BJP used similar tactics against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is being investigated by the CBI for alleged disproportionate assets.
“The BJP has been using smaller parties against the Congress. There is nothing new in it,” said Shabbir.
During recent public meetings, the BRS chief slammed the Congress party and urged people to throw the party into the Bay of Bengal. Not long ago, KCR used the same words for BJP.
With Congress leaders promising that if the party is elected, it will abolish the Dharani portal, KCR is responding to the grand old party. “Those talking of throwing Dharani portal in the Bay of Bengal should be thrown in Bay of Bengal,” he said at the public meeting in Nagarkurnool on June 6.
The BRS government launched the Dharani portal in 2020 as a one-stop solution for all land records as part of large-scale revenue system reforms. The Congress party, on the other hand, claims that Dharani contributed to the problems of land owners, especially farmers.
The BRS chief, on the other hand, remained silent on the BJP, whose leaders are equally critical of Dharani. G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for Tourism and Culture, stated last month that the KCR family and BRS were looting people through the Dharani portal.
KCR has used most of his public appearances in the last two years to attack the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a variety of issues ranging from hate politics to discrimination against Telangana. In political circles, his silence on the BJP at public meetings raised eyebrows.
Congress leaders maintain that Congress is KCR’s number one political opponent. They recall that KCR ‘betrayed’ the Congress party by breaking his promise to merge the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with the Congress if the latter carves out Telangana state.
KCR decided not to merge TRS and Congress after Telangana was formed. Shabbir noted that after the 2014 elections, TRS engineered defections in Congress and continued to do so after regaining power in 2018.
“KCR’s attacks on BJP were all drama to mislead people. Everybody knows that BJP hardly has any existence in Telangana. It’s the Congress party which has cadres across the state,” he said.
The Congress leader said after the outcome of Karnataka elections has boosted the morale of the party. “KCR is afraid because the Congress party has become strong with the leaders ending all their differences to come together and gear up for the coming polls,” Shabbir said.
K.T. Rama Rao, KCR’s son and BRS working president, has stated that the Karnataka election results will have no bearing on Telangana.
While BRS leaders publicly deny that the Karnataka outcome will have no bearing on Telangana, the ruling appears to be wary of a rejuvenated Congress.
Political analysts believe that changing political equations in the aftermath of BJP’s poll debacle in Karnataka may have led to KCR changing tack.
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