As Bharat Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) distances himself from his party, state politics, and public life, his son and party working president K T Rama Rao has been making confusing statements on important issues, as is evident from his talk on the Vice-Presidential election.
On Tuesday, KTR found fault with senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s remarks over political alignments in the Vice-Presidential election, saying the Congress party’s arrogance and sense of entitlement have been its undoing in national politics.
Reacting to Jairam Ramesh’s tweet suggesting that parties abstaining from the poll were indirectly siding with the BJP, KTR said Congress was still trapped in an outdated “either with us or with them” binary.
“Jairam Ji, this sense of entitlement and arrogance is what made Congress fail in contemporary politics. ‘Either you are with us or else you’re with them’ claim is a silly argument posturing as if the nation is bipolar. We are neither B-team of Congress nor B-team of BJP. We are the A-team of Telangana people. Please focus on your own failures and spare us the tantrums,” KTR said.
Analysts say KTR’s arguments sound silly and it shows not only his disillusionment but also a lack of clarity in national politics. It indicates ideological hollowness of the BRS on key national issues.
Take the Vice-Presidential election for instance. The party decided to stay away from both the Congress and the BJP — leaving itself no alternative. But it now appears confused about how to justify its absence.
KTR once said the party would not support a candidate backed by Revanth Reddy. But on what grounds?
Justice Sudarshan Reddy is not Revanth Reddy’s personal candidate, nor is he merely Congress’s nominee — he is being supported by the INDIA bloc and other anti-BJP parties, based on the principle that an RSS-BJP nominee should not occupy the Vice-President’s chair.
KTR also repeated that BRS would support whoever provided Telangana with 200,000 tonnes of urea. But how could the INDIA bloc - currently out of power - supply urea? On what basis does this argument rest?
Now, on Jairam Ramesh’s statement, KTR is all the more confused. When the party calls itself the “A-team of the Telangana people,” it must be asked: Justice Sudarshan Reddy is a son of Telangana, a former judge with no political affiliations. Shouldn’t he naturally have BRS’s support? Or has the party, after removing “Telangana” from its name, also lost this sense of belonging?
The Aam Aadmi Party supports Sudarshan Reddy; yet it is not a Congress ally. The Trinamool Congress supports him too; again, not an ally of the Congress. Their stance is anti-BJP because the BJP is their main rival. That is political clarity.
Naveen Patnaik’s BJD, until recently, backed BJP’s bills and showed no sympathy for Congress. But with BJP now its prime rival, BJD has stayed away from the Vice-Presidential poll.
National politics today is polarized into pro-BJP and anti-BJP camps. Regional parties too are compelled to take a clear stand on one side or the other. The YSR Congress, with contempt for Congress and dependence on BJP’s goodwill, aligns with the NDA.
The TDP, as an NDA partner, supports Radhakrishnan. Their paths are clear. In contrast, only the BRS stands confused — unable to explain or defend its political stance.
