KCR launches national party : Is it a precursor to his national ambitions 2024?

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has got a national upgrade and has been re-christened Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as party chief K Chandrashekhar Rao known as KCR throws his hat into the ring of a national contest, something he has been planning since 2018.

Why is KCR aiming national? KCR has been saying that there is a vacuum of leadership and a party at the national level that can challenge the BJP, which he alleges has been “exploiting communal sentiments” for political gain. He is also aware that the Congress, which otherwise would have been a pole to launch an opposition attack against the BJP from, is ceding territory to the behemoth that is ruling the Centre and 17 states.

Why not ally with Congress? The Congress is a rival in KCR’s turf Telangana. Although the Congress was instrumental in bifurcation of the united Andhra Pradesh state, the party is unable to put up a united fight due to factionalism, a problem that is ailing the party in other states as well.

What is in it for KCR? KCR is one among several leaders eyeing a national role. He first pitched for a national front against the BJP and Congress in 2018. While that failed to really take off beyond photo-ops, he is now once again preparing the ground for his national ambitions. He has been snubbing the Prime Minister and was recently seen meeting Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and in his presence giving the battle cry: BJP Mukt Bharat (a spin on PM Modi’s ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’).

KCR’s major battle ahead is the Telangana Assembly election due in December 2023. His primary interest is holding on to his home state and for that projecting national capability can help build his image. It creates the necessary buzz and suggests that he is on a strong footing, at least to the Telangana electorate.

KCR has employed many strategies before to retain power in Telangana and in his constituency. In 2018, KCR advanced the elections to capitalise on his popularity before voters were swept into the national poll cycle with the approaching 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Now, he perhaps thinks that elevating himself to a direct contest with PM Modi, he can beat two-term anti-incumbency and even emerge as a leader of reckoning in the national race.

But he is still a long way from his national goal. As per norms prescribed by the Election Commission of India, to get national status a party requires 'state party' status in at least four states. To get 'state party' status, a party has to secure six per cent votes in Assembly polls or win two seats in a particular state.

As per reports, the party wants to retain its election symbol of the car and also its pink colour.

KCR has asked his party leaders to promote TRS welfare schemes in different states. He hopes that “highly successful” schemes such as ‘Rythu Bandhu’ support scheme for farmers and the ‘Dalit Bandhu’ support scheme for Dalits will strike a chord with voters across states. The Telangana government has often claimed that the Centre’s PM-Kisan is an imitation of the ‘Rythu Bandhu scheme’.

Reports say that the first election to be fought under the party is possibly going to be the Munugode bypoll that is expected to happen on November 4. The party is also likely to contest assembly elections in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Delhi.

Since its inception in 2001, the TRS has never contested elections anywhere except within the Telugu-speaking territories.

How does the BJP view the competition? Though the BJP won only a single seat in the 2018 Assembly elections in Telangana, whereas TRS swept the polls, the party has been feeling resurgent after its improved performance in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls in 2020 and victory in the Dubbaka and Huzurabad assembly by-elections.

Addressing a press conference, Union Minister for Culture and Tourism G Kishan Reddy had said recently, “TDP, YSRCP, AIADMK and YSRCP are also national parties. There is nothing new in parties coming and fading away. KCR once said that the apocalypse is about to come and this is it.” He claimed that none of the parties “floated with evil intentions survived”.