Hyderabad: In Telangana’s political circles, chief minister and TRS supremo K. Chandrasekhar (KCR) was always considered to be a ‘secret ally’ of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre. The implication being that he had some kind of understanding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. All that while the BJP’s state unit here would oppose KCR.
However, with five states in India including Uttar Pradesh going to polls, KCR seems to have finally shifted gears and is currently on an all-out attack mode against the BJP and Modi. Unlike earlier when the Telangana chief minister would keep mum unless provoked (for instance when Amit Shah claimed that the Centre ‘gave’ the state Rs 1 lakh crore in funds), KCR now seems to have realised that the BJP is growing right under his nose.
With the state Congress also barely showing its presence and having the ground slip from under its feet, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) supremo knows that his challenger in the next elections most likely will be the BJP. His tirade against the BJP/Modi two days ago was even surprising to some, given that it also included him defending Congress MP Rahul Gandhi (with regards to remarks passed on Gandhi by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma).
”Elections are currently going on in UP, and if chief ministers question or attack Modi only then will it dent his image. The main opposition to the TRS now is the BJP in Telangana. Rahul Gandhi should really think about the kind of people he has in his party, until then it won’t change. BJP leaders say whatever they want about is family and the party keeps quiet. One person called Modi a ’chai wala’ and the BJP marketed it,” said a TRS leader, who did not want to be named.
After the 2020 GHMC elections especially, wherein the ruling TRS suffered a big setback (it won 56 out of 150 seats, while the BJP sprang a surprise by winning 48), the BJP has been aggressively attacking KCR in the state. In the 2015 GHMC polls, TRS won 99 seats. Prior to last week’s attack on the Centre, KCR also was locked in a war of words with Telangana BJP chief and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar few months ago.
In the past, TRS leaders always maintained that the party supported the central government only if it was beneficial to Telangana. This led to many analysts believing that KCR had an unofficial alliance with the BJP. However, things seem to be changing now, given that the BJP is no longer the minor player in the state, as it was during the 2014 and 2018 state elections (wherein it won 5 and 1 MLA seats).
Moreover, KCR earlier also spoke of a non-BJP and non-Congress federal front with other regional leaders. However, nothing has come of it so far, aside from him meeting few leaders from other regional parties now and then.
”Just because Modi is the Prime Minister, can he say whatever he wants to? Modi’s remarks in the Parliament about the state were a direct attack on us. So should we keep quiet? There was never any kind of understanding, nor did we get any kind of additional funds from the Centre as well,” a senior TRS legislator told Siasat.com, who did not want to be named.
While the TRS is still in a strong position as of now, some form of anti-incumbency is expected for the 2023 state elections, which is likely to be a three-way fight between the TRS, BJP and the Congress. In the previous polls, the ruling party swept it by winning 88 out of 119 seats, while the Congress and TDP (which had an alliance), bagged 19 and two seats.
However, 12 MLAs from the Congress and two from the TDP switched to the TRS soon after. The BJP won just one seat in 2018.
