As BRS limps in Telangana, BJP, Congress attract deserters

In a kidnap-like drama, former Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA Aroori Ramesh on Wednesday (March 13) was dragged by party workers from his Warangal residence in Telangana in full public view, following rumours that he had plans to join the BJP.

Led by former minister Eerrabelli Dayakar Rao, scores of BRS workers descended upon the house of Ramesh, a former MLA from the Wardhannapet seat, and almost dragged him into a waiting car. Videos of the incident have gone viral on social media.

Unpleasant ‘abduction’

Sources said BRS leaders who got wind of his plans to join the BJP wanted to scuttle it by presenting him before party supremo K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR in Hyderabad.

But the 140-km journey was not pleasant. Dozens of BJP workers who were tipped off about the incident stopped the car en route and tried to rescue Ramesh. Amid the melee, Ramesh’s shirt was torn but the BRS people had their way and made it to Hyderabad. There, in the presence of KCR, Ramesh, who was reportedly denied the Warrangal Lok Sabha seat by the BRS leader, denied he was planning to join the BJP.

Another BRS leader, Ch Mallareddy Reddy, who was a minister in the KCR government is also expected to ditch the party soon. Photographs of his meeting with Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar were recently seen circulating on social media.

The party received another jolt on Friday (March 15) when BRS MLC and KCR’s daughter K Kavitha was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi liquor scam case, following raids at her residence in Hyderabad.

The incidents reflect the debilitating state of the once-formidable BRS.

KCR’s waning charisma

KCR’s charisma is not able to hold back senior leaders. MPs, former MPs, former MLAs and other leaders who once bathed the then chief minister’s portraits and cut-outs with milk, now want to desert the party.

Even sitting MPs are refusing re-nomination. The rot that set in after the party's defeat in the assembly elections in November 2023 has reached its present state just before the Lok Sabha battle. While Congress attracted many senior BRS leaders in February, the BJP was the most happening party in March.

In February, Peddapalli MP B Venkatesh Netha, former Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) mayor Bonthu Rammohan, Vikarabad Zilla Parishad chairperson Patnam Sunitha Reddy and Cherlapally division corporator Bonthu Sridevi Yadav joined the Congress.

On March 10, four former BRS legislators, two former MPs (Gaddam Nagesh and Azmira Sitaram Naik) and two former legislators (Jalagam Venkata Rao and Saidi Reddy) joined the BJP. Of them, Nagesh, Sitaram Naik and Reddy have been declared as the BJP candidates for Adilabad, Mahabubabad and Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituencies respectively.

‘Achhe din’ for BJP?

Earlier, BB Patil, sitting BRS MP from Zaheerabad, and P Bharat, son of another sitting BRS Nagarkurnool MP P Ramulu, were given tickets by the BJP.

The saffron party, which till recently found it difficult to win a seat or two without an alliance in the region, has acquired sudden vibrancy.

The question being debated in Telangana is who will benefit more from the disorder in the BRS: Congress or BJP?.

“The BJP is expected to benefit more,” says BS Ramulu, a former confidant of KCR.

“In 2014, despite strong regional sentiment, KCR managed to scrape through the election with 63 members in a house of 119, just three more than the magic figure. Feeling insecure, KCR resorted to increasing the strength in the House by encouraging splits in TDP and Congress by offering ministerial berths instead of building TRS into a strong democratic organisation,” he says.

“He jettisoned all those forces who fought for Telangana by his side. All the forces which are deserting him now were the same who jumped from other parties for power. The pathetic thing is that there are no more committed cadres left in the BRS to defend him,” adds Ramulu, a well-known author and chairman of first Backward Classes Commission of Telangana.

Caste is crucial

In Ramulu’s view, the BJP will reap most from the crisis within the BRS as the new crop of politicians consider the former as a party with a future in Telangana and the real alternative to Congress.

A similar view was expressed by Prof E Venkateshu of the Hyderabad Central University (HCU).

According to Venkateshu, Backward Classes are likely to gravitate towards the BJP rather than the Congress.

“Both the Congress and BRS are brazenly promoting dominant caste interests. These parties have created hegemony of upper castes, mostly Reddys and Velamas. The BJP is alone talking about a kind of social engineering where Backward Classes (BCs) are promised a modicum of recognition,” says Venkateshu, who teaches political science at HCU.

Stating that the awareness among the Telangana BCs is on rise, he said BC communities are conscious about the upper caste moorings of the Congress and the BRS.

“The BJP, which is a non-local party, is not yet colonised by upper castes in Telangana. This is BJP's attraction. The saffron party is expected to exploit this situation and benefit electorally. This was evident in the last assembly elections where the party won eight seats. This is indicative of the expanding influence of BJP among OBCs of Telangana,” Venkateshu, who is also convener of Lok Niti, told The Federal.