Telangana Assembly polls:With BRS, BJP facing revolts and defections, it's advantage Congress

What Vivek brings to the table?

Also known as G Vivek Venkataswamy, the industrialist and owner of V6, a leading Telugu news channel as well as that of newspaper Velugu Gaddam joined the party on Wednesday (November 1) following an invitation from former AICC president Rahul Gandhi, who is currently campaigning in Telangana. Also, the chairman of the BJP’s manifesto committee, Vivek joined the Congress hours after he tendered his resignation to the BJP. His entry to the Congress comes close on the heels of the joining of another influential BJP leader Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy.

Vivek’s induction is a significant win for the Congress as his presence in the party will help it widen its outreach in the North Telangana region where the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is strong. According to sources, Vivek's son Vamsi Krishna will be fielded from the Chennur assembly constituency and Vivek will be the candidate for the Lok Sabha elections.

Vivek originally hails from a Congress family. His father G Venkataswamy, a Congress old guard served as a cabinet minister at the Centre. Vivek won from the Peddapalli Lok Sabha constituency in 2009, but lost to BRS in 2014. In 2016, he joined the BRS (then TRS), praising Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s ‘Bangaru Telangana’ (Golden Telangana). However, in 2020, he left TRS for the BJP, criticizing the former as a “private limited company”. His latest jump to the Congress is being called as a tactic to remain in power given the buzz that the party may win the elections in the state this time.

How Karnataka, Revanth Reddy changed the ‘desertion game’

Vivek’s switchover to the Congress is only the latest in the fierce race between the former and BRS to lure influential leaders from other parties.

Political parties in Telangana are mostly targeting disgruntled leaders who were denied tickets by their parties for the November 30 assembly elections. A situation has arisen in Telangana in which no leader in the state appears to be immune to the lure of a political bargain. Leaders with long associations with their parties are also not hesitating to quit their party for a deal.

Till 2019, BRS was the principal beneficiary of the defections which mostly happened from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Congress. The Congress lost 13 of its MLAs while the TDP lost two between 2018 and now. And there is no count for the desertions outside the assembly.

The BJP’s return to power at the Centre in 2019 made it the next sought-after destination for Telangana’s aayarams and gayarams (expression used for turncoats in politics). However, the appointment of A Revanth Reddy as the state Congress president in June 2021, reversed the trend. Now, the Congress has also started attracting dissidents from the BRS and the BJP. The process picked up momentum with the party’s return to power in Karnataka.

BRS scrambles to stay afloat

The BRS, which is facing a tough fight from the resurgent Congress, has kept its doors wide open for the disgruntled leaders of rival parties. The joining of every leader is projected as a great achievement by the party. In an unusual way, the celebrities of KCR’s cabinet – KT Rama Rao (KTR) and T Harish Rao – rush to the houses of the Congress and BJP dissidents to invite them to the party. An audience with Chief Minister KCR, which is normally unthinkable even for an MLA, is arranged immediately. Despite little assurance from the BRS of a ticket for the upcoming polls, senior leaders like former state Congress president Ponnala Lakshmaiah and former minister Dr Nagam Janardhan Reddy have chosen to join the party.

Former Congress MLA P Vishnuvardhan Reddy called on KCR on Sunday (October 29) night and joined the party on Monday (October 30). Vishnu was peeved because the party declined to field him from the Jubilee Hills constituency and instead fielded former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin from the seat. Vishnu who won twice on a Congress ticket had lost to BRS in the 2014 and 2018 elections.

BRS circles were jubilant as the party lured many more important leaders across the state including former Congress MLA Erra Sekhar and BJP leader P Chandrasekhar, who joined the party on Sunday.

“In the new state of Telangana, switching sides has become a trend,” said veteran political commentator Nandiraju Radhakrishna.

“BRS, by becoming an all-powerful party, made the leaders from opposition parties redundant. This created a wave of migrations both from the Congress and the TDP to BRS for almost 10 years. Now, with BRS facing a challenge from Congress, the reverse trend has begun,” Radhakrishna said.

No strings attached: The new political mantra

Radhakrishna says the salient feature of the new political culture of Telangana is the absence of loyalty for one’s party.

Upset by the denial of the ticket from the Janagoan constituency, 81-year-old Lakshmaiah chose to quit the Congress, ignoring his decades-long association with the party which made him minister in many governments.

Dr Reddy, once a protégé of TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, joined the BJP in 2013 when his own regional outfit failed to take off. He left the BJP to join Congress in 2018. Now he has switched allegiance to BRS as he was not nominated from Nagarkurnool constituency. Minutes after Reddy made his intent to leave the party, KTR and Harish Rao knocked on his doors to invite him to the BRS. Later, KCR hugged him after offering him a party shawl.

BRS, BJP lose over 40 influential leaders

The BRS and the BJP have jointly lost as many as 40 influential leaders to the Congress in the last couple of months. This includes former BRS leaders Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Thummala Nageswara Rao, Jupally Krishna Rao, Mynampally Hanumanth Rao and former BJP leaders Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy and Vivek.

The Congress also lost many leaders such as Prof Sravan Dasoju, Dr Cheruku Sudhakar, and Ponnala Lakshmaiah.

What surprises one is that the BRS is losing its influential leaders even despite the party’s assertion that it will win the assembly elections for the third consecutive time.

Talking to The Federal, Dr Mallu Ravi, Congress’ working president said many more important leaders were expected to join the Congress in the next few days.

“A realisation that the Congress is the right party at this juncture is being seen by many leaders. So, they want to strengthen the hands of the party that was responsible for the creation of the separate state of Telangana,” Dr Mallu said.