With KCR silent, BRS supremacy war rages between KTR, Harish Rao
BRS faces internal power struggle between KTR and Harish Rao post-election loss, with both leaders active but lacking a unified strategy against Congress.
Almost a year after losing power to the Congress party in the Telangana assembly elections, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) appears to be witnessing a battle of supremacy between party president K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son KT Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao to gain hold over the party, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
With KCR, as the former chief minister is popularly called, going completely into a silent mode after the BRS lost power in the state in November last year and drawing a blank in the Lok Sabha elections in May this year, an uncertainty of sorts has gripped the party cadre with no centralised command centre in the party.
Though KT Rama Rao, better known as KTR, and Harish Rao have been leading the party leaders from the front to fight against the Congress government, led by chief minister A Revanth Reddy, on several issues, there has been no common programme of action of the party, leaving the cadre in a state of confusion.
A senior BRS leader on condition of anonymity said that when KCR was the chief minister, he was the commander-in-chief of the BRS, while his son KTR, who has been the working president of the BRS for the last six years, was considered No. 2 in the party.
“Added to this, KCR’s daughter and MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha was also yet another power centre in the party, though under the guidance of her father. Harish Rao did not fit in their scheme of things and was completely sidelined, though he enjoyed the position of a cabinet minister with important portfolios like finance and medical and health,” the BRS leader said.
However, after KCR has withdrawn himself into a shell after the electoral debacle, Harish Rao has become extremely active, organising programmes on behalf of the party and going into the people to organise dharnas and rallies.
“He has been constantly questioning the Revanth Reddy government’s inaction on various issues such as non-implementation of Rythu Bharosa (payment of ₹10,000 per acre to farmers towards crop investment) and failure to fulfil 100% crop loan waiver scheme etc. He has also become very active on social media platforms, attacking the Revanth government,” the BRS leader quoted above said.
On the other hand, KTR has also been aggressively attacking the Congress government on issues such as demolition of houses of the poor and middle-class people by HYDRAA and Musi riverfront development project etc. He has been effectively using social media and digital media to target the Revanth government.
“On a broader perspective, both the leaders have not given any impression of any rivalry between the two. In fact, there are occasions where KTR came to the defence of Harish Rao and vice versa,” the party leader said.
For example, on August 17, when some Congress workers allegedly attacked and vandalised the camp office and residence of Harish Rao, KTR quickly condemned the attack and described it as an “alarming display of lawlessness.”
Similarly, when the special task force police raided the farmhouse of KTR’s brother-in-law Raj Pakala at Janwada on the outskirts of Hyderabad in the early hours of Sunday, Harish Rao took to X to condemn the raids describing them as a politically motivated conspiracy by the Congress government against KTR and his family. He accused the government of fabricating a drugs case to tarnish the image of KTR.
Yet, the BRS leader quoted above, said both KTR and Harish Rao have been fighting against the Congress in their individual capacity, rather than on behalf of the BRS with a common programme of action. “This has posed a tricky situation for the party leaders. Some leaders are following the programmes of Harish Rao and others are acting on the directions of KTR,” he said.
Political analyst Ramakrishna Sangem said Harish Rao, being senior to KTR in politics, has tremendous control over the grassroots-level leaders and cadre. “So, he wants to assert his position when the party is in crisis. At the same time, KTR, all said and done, is the party working president and continues to be the No. 2 in the party, as long as KCR is the supremo, a fact which cannot be ignored,” he said.
Sangem said as long as KTR and Harish Rao do not work for cross-purposes, it doesn’t matter much. “They are striving in their own way to sustain the BRS, which is good for the party. KCR has not faded out. He is still giving direction to the party from his farmhouse. As long as he is active, there is no scope for any internal turmoil in the party,” he added.