After months of contemplative silence (read: sulking at his farmhouse), former Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) supremo K. Chandrashekar Rao has finally emerged from political hibernation. At a grand rally in Warangal — heavy on crowd mobilization, light on reality checks — KCR declared, with admirable optimism, that BRS would “bounce back” to power in the next Assembly elections.
In the same breath, he graciously assured that his party had no intentions of destabilizing Revanth Reddy’s Congress government and wished it a full five-year term. Such generosity! Especially from a man whose career was built on encouraging defections faster than one could say “Gurukul Trust.”
Political observers are, naturally, scratching their heads. What prompted this sudden burst of statesmanship? Was it a coded message to his own deserters — those who fled BRS after its humiliating 2023 election loss — subtly telling them to enjoy their Congress-sponsored power ride for now and consider boomeranging back when the winds shift?
Let’s not forget: it was the Congress that once moved court over defections from its ranks to BRS and secured a High Court directive ordering the Assembly Speaker to act. That directive was conveniently sat on — or confined to the dustbin.
Now, though more than half a dozen BRS MLAs have defected to the ruling Congress, KCR has chosen not to cry foul. Curious restraint, from a man who once weaponized defections as a political art form.
Now, for those just joining the show, here’s a recap of KCR’s grand national dream. In a fit of ambition (or delusion, take your pick), he rebranded his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), setting his sights on Delhi’s power corridors. He courted every regional satrap in sight — TMC, DMK, SP, BSP, JDU — holding marathon meetings and photo-ops. Outcome? Zilch. None of the leaders bought what he was selling.
Undeterred, KCR even opened a BRS party office in Maharashtra and promised to contest the Lok Sabha elections in multiple states. Spoiler alert: BRS not only lost Telangana’s 2023 assembly polls but also drew a magnificent blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, the BJP pocketed nine out of Telangana’s 17 seats. The “national party” couldn’t even guard its backyard.
Since then, KCR has done what he does best — retreat to his farmhouse. Even when he was Chief Minister, his commitment to governance was inversely proportional to his love for farmhouse retreats. The new Secretariat building, an expensive vanity project constructed during the COVID crisis — all for some vague “Vastu” realignment — now serves Congress better than BRS. Irony, thy name is politics.
Had he won 2023, KCR’s plan was crystal clear: crown his son K.T. Rama Rao (KTR) as Telangana’s new king and catapult himself into the national arena. Instead, the newly minted BRS is now an object lesson in how not to kill a thriving regional party. As the old saying goes, in politics, there are no murders, only suicides. KCR, meet Chandrababu Naidu — Andhra Pradesh’s poster boy for self-inflicted political wounds, courtesy of his 2019 exit from NDA.
Now, amid recycled promises of a political resurrection, the question is: who’s buying this comeback fantasy? Beyond the sea of pink flags and paid-for enthusiasm at Warangal, are there any real takers? Especially when whispers are growing louder about the BJP’s intentions to invest heavily in Telangana — another plum prize in its South India expansion drive.
Meanwhile, KCR’s flock seems restless. Many BRS leaders are already polishing their resumes, ready to defect to whichever party offers them better prospects. After all, loyalty in politics lasts about as long as a monsoon in Hyderabad.
For now, KCR’s “we’ll bounce back” pitch is just that — a pitch. Whether it leads to a sixer or another clean bowled remains to be seen. But going by recent history, it’s safer to bet on the latter.
