KCR INTENDS TO USE THE ‘WRONGED FATHER AND CM’ APPEAL TO RATCHET UP SUPPORT FOR BRS

The BRS chief says he is being targeted for rallying together political parties opposed to the BJP. He has already told party activists to be prepared for Kavitha’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and will most likely use the ‘wronged father and CM’ appeal to ratchet up support and launch the campaign for the legislative assembly polls in Telangana due at the end of the year and the Lok Sabha election in 2024. The BRS is also trying to get together other political parties who have been ‘victims’ of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED to buttress the accusations of the misuse of central agencies by the Modi government.

State rival Congress, though, is not one of them. Indeed, the party perceives the issue quite differently. Former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ponnala Lakshmaiah wonders why there has been no movement on the ED investigation into “KCR’s involvement in corruption cases” though the agency had questioned him back in 2017. He says the BJP’s soft corner towards KCR is evident in the way he is being spared by agencies despite the huge corruption allegations against him. “Prime Minister Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have repeatedly accused KCR of corruption in power purchase agreements, Mission Kakatiya and even called the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project the ‘chief minister’s ATM’. But no action has been taken against him despite the evidence,” he argues. He claims the ED probe against Kavitha is “a drama by the BJP as KCR is its trusted friend”.

AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY

That may be the Congress pitch, but BRS itself has gone on full attack mode. Home minister Shah, who was in Hyderabad for the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Raising Day celebrations on March 12, was greeted in the city by teaser hoardings for detergents with morphed images of tainted politicians across states who have “become clean” after defecting to the BJP. The message was clear—like washing powder cleans soiled clothes, corruption charges and scams disappear once the tainted politicians turned saffron.

KCR, it seems, is determined to pull out all the stops in the BRS’s campaign blitzkrieg in the runup to the election. Carrying forward a successful electoral campaign from his last term, the party will conduct athmeeya sammelanams at the grassroots level with 10 gram panchayats or each municipality as a cluster. The party aims to complete the exercise ahead of its Foundation Day on April 27. BRS working president and KCR’s son K.T. Rama Rao (KTR) reportedly told key activists during a teleconference on March 12 that the gettogethers were important to “infuse energy and create awareness among the 6 million plus party members”.

The athmeeya sammelanams are events where sumptuous meals and beverages are arranged for all participants where it is not unknown for even party leaders to shake a leg to the tunes of popular Tollywood beats. Of course, the welfare schemes initiated by the BRS government will also be promoted at these dos. All elected representatives

have also been instructed to ensure that BRS offices in the districts are open and ready for Foundation Day. Party flags will be hoisted and various programmes organised to mark the day. More outreach events will follow as the polls near. Though KCR speaks of developing a national footprint for the BRS, winning the Telangana assembly polls by a comfortable majority is the top focus right now. A decisive victory is also central to his BRS expansion strategy in the contiguous states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh before next year’s Lok Sabha poll.

The antiincumbency after two consecutive terms is the biggest challenge for KCR (he assumed office on the formation of Telangana in June 2014). To offset it, the CM is focusing on delivering on some of his popular poll promises—the investment support Rythu Bandhu scheme for farmers, allotments under the 2BHK affordable housing scheme for the poor and a comprehensive investment support Dalit Bandhu scheme for the Scheduled Castes. There will also be a slew of umbrella schemes to provide social security, education and employment. Telangana ensures social security for its 4.4 million people. The state also spends Rs 42,000 crore annually on pensions, including for women and widows. BRS estimates suggest that at least 60,000 people in each constituency get the benefit of one scheme or the other.

Focusing on these beneficiaries, the government is to launch the Gruha Lakshmi housing and distribution of podu (shifting cultivation) lands and sheep in assembly constituencies in the coming months. Around 365,000 beneficiaries will be covered under the sheep distribution programme and nearly 4 lakh acres of podu lands will be distributed to 155,393 forestdwellers. KCR has directed party leaders to ensure that the land deeds reach eligible beneficiaries without the involvement of middlemen. That apart, the state’s industryfriendly policies have brought in some Rs 3.5 lakh crore in investment in the past eight years. Close to 20,000 industrial units are said to be operational in the state today, employing some three million people.

RIVAL CAMPAIGNS

A major concern for the BRS is the adversarial role state governor Tamilisai Soundararajan is playing by putting legislation passed by the state legislature on the backburner. The state moved the Supreme Court against the governor on March 2, pointing out that it is unconstitutional on her part to not clear 10 crucial bills pending since last year. Some of these bills have been in Raj Bhavan for over six months now with the governor reportedly refusing to clarify the reason for the inordinate delay. In the recent budget session, the legislature adopted five bills; the governor has given assent for the Money Appropriation Bill for 2023 and another for 202324 and kept the others on hold (see Guv Puts Bills on Ice).

The opposition BJP, meanwhile, is tweaking its strategy after its 11,123 nukkad sabhas (street corner meetings) failed to yield adequate response. It will now hold public meetings in all 119 assembly constituencies to prepare party workers. The saffron party is working on making ‘Mission 90’ (winning 90 assembly seats) a reality. That longtime BJP leaders and recent heavyweight entrants do not see eyetoeye on putting up a concerted fight is, however, a dampener. Shah has tried to broker peace and has advised state BJP leaders to collate data on state government schemes, see where it has done badly and tweak a seatbyseat strategy. KCR seems confident of his chances and has declared that he has no plans to seek an early election like he did in 2018. “All the surveys are in our favour. A majority of the MLAs will be retained. But corruption charges will not be tolerated,” says KCR, for whom ticket distribution could become a daunting task.

The third player in the fray, the Congress, is trying hard to stay in the game. PCC president A. Revanth Reddy is on a statewide ‘Yatra for Change’, appealing to voters to give the Congress an opportunity and releasing constituencywise chargesheets against BRS legislators. “After spending Rs 23 lakh crore through the budget and raising Rs 5 lakh crore as loans in nine years, KCR has nothing to show to Telangana except the loot of state resources,” says Reddy. Unfazed by the attacks, KCR is taking it one step at a time. A triumphant state election could even open the doors to national ambitions in 2024. ■