Telangana: With BRS needing a reprieve and BJP allies, pragmatism trumps animosity

Congress's win in Karnataka upset BRS and BJP calculations.

On June 25, a couple of days after the Patna unity show of 15 opposition parties, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had invited KT Rama Rao, Telangana Minister of IT and son of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K Chandrashekar Rao, Bharatiya Janata Party’s bitter rival, for a one-on-one meeting.

Though the scheduled meeting was put off at the last minute after KTR or Rama Rao was agonisingly kept waiting in the national capital in the wake of massive resistance from an anti-KCR ginger group within the Telangana BJP, the development raised many eyebrows.

On June 17, KCR had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi his “good friend” in Nagpur after inaugurating the local BRS party office.

Strange Bedfellows

A string of developments, involving KCR’s party, was taking place around the same period. The BRS and KCR were kept out of the Nitish-led Patna opposition conclave, with Congress claiming it was done at its behest. Earlier, KCR’s party had evaded the opposition-sponsored protest over the manner in which President Draupadi Murmu was sidelined when the new Parliament building was inaugurated. Of course, nothing takes place in isolation, and more so in politics.

Political pundits are busy joining the dots to conclude whether the sequence of events are any signs of bringing the strange bedfellows – BRS and BJP – together in Telangana.

The changing perceptions have no doubt been driven by changed political equations following the Karnataka elections. Congress’s victory in the neighbouring state has brought to sharp focus the compulsions of KCR and the BJP for the newfound love.

BJP Needs Allies

The BJP’s compulsions are explicit. The failure of the Modi magic in Karnataka after successes  in the previous state and national elections has put the party on guard. If Telangana experiences a spillover impact from Karnataka, it is likely that the BJP may not put up a better showing than its own previous record in the coming elections. There appears to be realisation that barring Karnataka, the BJP is unlikely at the moment to create any major electoral impact without enlisting support from the regional parties in the south.

The saffron party exploring friendly ties with Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP in Andhra Pradesh and Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka could be read in this context. It is naïve to undermine the role of South India with 131 Lok Sabha seats in the 545-member lower house in bringing Modi back to power.

Mood surveys are also indicating greater headwinds for BJP than in the last two general elections. Therefore, it’s incumbent upon the BJP to isolate the Congress by all means and

look for new allies in a feverish bid to compensate for the losses the party may suffer elsewhere in the north.

KCR’s Compulsions

But what is it that compels KCR to turn to Modi’s BJP? Politically, it’s the Congress and personally, it’s his daughter Kavitha Kalvakuntla, under the scanner in the Delhi liquor scam, who the ED has called in for questioning in the past.

The BJP’s Telangana leaders, especially the diehard KCR rivals like Etela Rajendar, have been burning the midnight oil to turn the tide of anti-incumbency vote to their party’s favour. The state party president Bandi Sanjay spared no efforts to capitalise on the issue of Kavitha’s “imminent” arrest.

As there were no indications of Kavitha’s arrest, leaders like K Vishweshwar Reddy, a turncoat from the BRS, have grown impatient and warned that a BRS-BJP nexus will be to the advantage of the Congress.

After the BJP lost out on the perception battle in Telangana following its Karnataka’s fiasco, KCR began to see the Congress as his main challenger. Reverse migration from his party to the Congress, involving leaders like Ponguleti Srinivasulu Reddy, the strongman in Khammam, and Jupally Krishna Rao, former minister from Mahabubnagar district, are  also strengthening perceptions of anti-incumbency.

A Return To “Neutrality”?

In his first term as the Chief Minister, KCR pursued cannibalistic politics and encouraged massive defections from the Congress. By 2019, after the Parliament elections, it appeared that BJP was on the upswing in Telangana and KCR went full throttle against the BJP. Now there is a reversal again.

Congress is the common enemy again and that is apparently bringing the BRS and the BJP together, forcing them to go for a ceasefire. Given KCR’s past track record, the BJP top brass understandably is hopeful of KCR keeping his options open on the question of backing the BJP so as to keep the Congress out of power. Recall that the TRS (rebranded as BRS now) had acted as an outside ally for the NDA by backing almost all the controversial bills during Modi’s first stint as the PM.

The changing political matrix in Telangana may even compel KCR to dump his national third front efforts and buy peace with the BJP. In turn, the BJP may be blowing the peace pipe with BRS keeping in mind a post-national election scenario that may not be favourable to it.

Gali Nagaraja is a senior journalist, formerly associated with The Hindu, The Times of India, and Hindustan Times for over three decades. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.