KCR struggles for poll pitch as 'Telangana sentiment' loses steam

The Congress by releasing six welfare guarantees has successfully dissipated the advantage the BRS reaped by releasing the list of candidates much earlier in August itself. The six guarantees set the tone for the campaign for the Telangana elections.

The guarantees left the BRS so perplexed that it could not offer anything new or more in its manifesto. In addition, the Congress has hit BRS where it hurts by touching upon two important issues, the Dharani App and tenant farmers.

Dharani App, an integrated land record management system, is projected as a revolution in land transactions. But it rendered the lives of lakhs of farmers miserable as the faulty app categorised lakhs of acres of land as ineligible for transfer or sale.

According to anti-Dharani activist Manne Narasimha Reddy, the owners of these prohibited lands were clueless about how to get the prohibition lifted.

“The app has produced a new crop of brokers, who are collecting huge money from farmers on the pretext of helping resolve their problems. The app has increased the corruption in the revenue department instead of being farmer-friendly,” he told The Federal.

Farmers’ fury

Farmers have launched protests demanding the withdrawal of the app. Now, the Congress has promised to scrap the app.

Another important issue that BRS has been refusing to recognise is related to the existence of tenant farmers. The Congress has promised to stand by the tenant farmers, who are estimated to be 20-23 lakh in number, and assured them financial assistance of ₹15,000 per acre per year.

Now, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the campaign, is highlighting how the government has become a family enterprise of K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR.

A cornered BRS

The BRS has never been cornered so badly in the past 10 years. Using the emotive issue of regional sentiments whenever possible and KCR’s gift of the gab had helped the BRS to win two assembly elections comfortably.

In 2014, the Assembly election was fought promising the reconstruction of Telangana, which it said had been ravaged by the successive governments of Congress and TDP.

In 2018, when the TDP and Congress allied together, KCR warned the people of the dangers of Andhra’s N Chandrababu Naidu making an attempt to enter Telangana through the backdoor. It worked wonders and BRS won 88 seats in a House of 119.

The current political trends prevailing in the state have made KCR unsure this time and he is not getting an opportunity to launch a campaign around Telangana pride.

The branding of Telangana PCC president A Revanth Reddy, a former TDP leader, as the agent of Chandrababu Naidu by the BRS leadership, failed to work and forced the BRS to fight the election without its traditional weapon: Telangana pride.

Telangana issue loses its shine

Noted economist Dr Tada Prabhakar Reddy feels Telangana has become a non-issue as it lost steam because of many governance-related problems in the past 10 years. He said the anti-incumbency factor is dominant now as the BRS has ruled the state for 10 years.

“The non-priority public expenditure on irrigation and lack of thinking on obtaining value for money from every rupee spent by the government, which is a principle of good governance, absence of employment creation in the government sector as promised, and sale of government lands instead of protecting and retaining them for the future generations have become major issues. With many serious issues coming to the fore, the Telangana sentiment has lost its appeal,” Dr Reddy told The Federal.

BJP chief spokesperson K Krishna Sagar Rao also acknowledged the shift in BRS strategy. Talking to The Federal, Krishna Sagar Rao said the BRS this time has chosen its governance track record of last two terms as the core campaign pitch.

“While KCR wants to highlight what the BRS government achieved in the last two terms, the Congress has chosen its six welfare measures as the campaign plank. The BJP will choose a centric campaign along with exposing the BRS' failures and the common thread of family dynasty, corruption and Muslim appeasement amongst BRS and Congress,” Krishna Sagar Rao said.

“The Telangana sentiment is still a pitch point for all parties, the BRS, Congress and BJP. They will use it parallelly throughout the election in their own way,” he added.

Name change

Kadempalli Sudhakar Goud, a political commentator, attributes the inability of KCR to fall back on the Telangana sentiment to the formation of the Bharata Rashtra Samiti.

“Theoretically chief minister KCR lost an opportunity to use the sentiment as a tool following the upgradation of the regional party, Telangana Rashtra Samit (TRS), to a national BRS. But, one should not forget the fact that the election is a fight between a regional party and two national parties. Regional sentiment can also make a comeback. KCR has the knack to brandish the Telangana sentiment with a twisted narrative if situation warrants,” Sudhakar said.

On the other hand, P Praveen Reddy, an aspirant of the TSPSC Group 1 exam, sees little scope for the Telangana sentiment in the state assembly elections as the state has travelled a long distance since the formation of Telangana in 2014.

Praveen is one of those who were distraught following the leak of the question paper of the Group 1 exam and the subsequent cancellation of the exam twice. As there is no indication of when the exam will be conducted, Praveen has returned home to  his village in Mahabubabad district.

“After 10 years of the state’s formation, the Telangana people have no fear about Andhras subverting the new state’s development. So, Telangana sentiment may not work this time unless some mishap occurs,” Praveen said over the phone.