The BRS Dilemma and a Call to Rediscover TRS Roots
Following a significant loss in the Telangana assembly elections, K Chandrasekhar Rao, and the president of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), is under internal pressure to change the party back to its original form, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
A senior leader within BRS revealed that many party members at the grassroots level are urging the state leadership to revert the party’s name from BRS back to TRS.
This move is seen as an attempt to reclaim the original Telangana identity of the party.
Discussions about this shift have surfaced during meetings led by BRS working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) and former minister T Harish Rao.
These gatherings aim to assess the party’s performance in the recent assembly elections and prepare the cadre for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The BRS Dilemma – Identity Crisis: BRS Struggles with Telangana’s Sentiment
Confirming the growing demand for the name change, former minister and prominent BRS lawmaker from Station Ghanpur constituency, Kadiyam Srihari, stated that party leaders from various districts have expressed their desire to revert to TRS.
Srihari emphasized that the party has been the sole representative of the people of Telangana for the past 23 years, and separating BRS from the state would be inappropriate.
The former minister emphasized that only BRS holds a sentimental connection to Telangana, making it the most effective representative of the state’s issues.
After facing a significant defeat in the Telangana assembly elections on November 30, where the party secured only 39 out of 119 seats amid an anti-incumbency wave and allegations of family rule and corruption, party leaders believe that the name change to BRS, initiated on October 5, 2022, played a role in losing its connection with Telangana.
Originally formed to advocate for the creation of a separate Telangana state, the party underwent the name change with the aim of establishing KCR as a national leader.
The Election Commission of India approved this change on December 8, 2022, leading to the party’s expansion beyond Telangana into states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi.
Many party leaders feel that projecting BRS as a national party affected its performance in the recent elections, as it couldn’t evoke the Telangana sentiment as effectively as it had in the past.
The BRS lawmaker suggested that reverting to the original name TRS should not be difficult, given that no other party has registered under that name according to the Election Commission of India.
Political analyst S A Zakir criticized the name change to BRS as a “historic blunder,” stating that KCR overlooked the fact that people had voted for him based on his Telangana identity. Zakir believes that KCR should focus on rebuilding the party within Telangana and abandon aspirations for national leadership.
Another issue likely to be discussed in the upcoming BRS meeting is the alleged lack of organizational structure, with the party currently being perceived as a family enterprise run by KCR and his family members. Zakir suggests that the party needs to evolve into a more democratic outfit with a proper organizational hierarchy from the village to the state level.