They decided to hold a wide-ranging meeting with all BC leaders to discuss the way forward to prevent any split in the BC vote bank.
Published Jul 21, 2023 | 7:39 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 21, 2023 | 7:39 PM
KCR speaking at the meeting in Telangana Bhavan. (BRSParty/Twitter)
With Assembly elections just months away, the ruling BRS in Telangana is going out of its way to woo different communities.
After Dalits and Muslims, the BRS — well aware of attempts by the BJP and the Congress to dip into the Backward Classes (BC) vote bank in the state — is working out ways to reach out to the community, which accounts for over 50 percent of the state’s population, as well as stymie the strategies of the rival parties.
BRS BC leaders, who met at Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivasa Yadav’s residence recently, have decided to organise BC-focused meetings to explain to the targeted group the welfare measures the state government had rolled out for them.
They have decided to hold wide-ranging meetings with all BC leaders of the party in a few days, and discuss the way forward to prevent any split in the BC vote bank.
The leaders also decided to organise a grand “BC Garjana” to explain to the people the support Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was lending to them.
The leaders also favoured holding Atma Gaurava Sabhas at all district headquarters and considered taking out a parade with BC leaders. They would include MPs, MLAs, chairmen of the various corporations, and those who were elected to the local bodies.
The BRS has a head start over the other two Opposition parties with Chief Minister KCR rolling out ₹1 lakh cash benefit to BCs to help them purchase the implements necessary for continuing their traditional occupations.
He has already released ₹400 crore to fund the new welfare scheme. About 5.28 lakh BCs have applied for financial assistance.
A majority of the castes that would benefit from the new scheme would be from among the MBCs — Most Backwatrd Classes — including the Rajakas (washermen), Nayi Brahmins (barbers), Kummari (potters), Kamsali (goldsmiths), and so on.
The BRS, to make most of the available time before the elections which will arrive in November-December, is putting together an action plan to drive home the point that BCs would get justice only under KCR’s administration.
They will explain in detail various schemes that had been rolled out for BC castes, from helping financially backward students in their education to sheep distribution, from Kalyana Lakshmi to loans from the BC Development Corporation — besides the latest ₹1 lakh assistance the chief minister has kick-started.
The Congress is also racking its brains on what it should promise the BCs to lure them to its side.
One Congress leader told South First that a proposal to allot 50 percent of tickets to BCs in the coming election was under consideration.
This apart, the party was contemplating hiking reservations for BCs to 40 percent. The party also wants to expose the state government by focusing on the debt the government has raised and how much of it was spent on the welfare of BCs.
The party also wants to resurrect the zeitgeist of the Telangana movement by playing videos during the campaign of how the Congress MPs had fought for Telangana and the dramatic incidents that took place before the state was achieved.
The party wants to make videos also of the poor fight that the TRS (Now BRS) had put up for a separate state and how it finally managed to hoodwink the people into believing that it was instrumental in forcing the Congress to deliver Telangana.
In May, the BJP had come out with its BC Declaration in which it announced the allocation of a budget for them commensurate with their population.
Parliament members Dr K Laxman and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who released the declaration, had said that the BC Commission would be given statutory status and BCs would be given priority in appointments to the nominated posts.
The party also announced organising a BC Garjana in June, to make a show of how the BCs were preferring the saffron party this time to the BRS.
The leaders who addressed the meeting also vowed to expose the BRS and the Congress over how it had overlooked the welfare of the BCs.
Dr Laxman had said that the Congress and the BRS had opposed reservations for the BCs. He said though the BCs population was more than 54 percent, the representation of these castes was only three percent in KCR’s Cabinet.
But as the days rolled by, the party had little time to organise the BC Garjana as BJP leaders became preoccupied with internal squabbles.
As the dissidence against the party leadership grew, the issues that the party had to take up to improve its prospects in the elections, took a backseat.
The internal squabbles in the party finally led to the removal of Bandi Sanjay as president of the Telangana BJP and the posting of Union Minister G Kishan Reddy in his place.
After Sanjay, who is a BC leader, was eased from the helm of the party, an impression gained ground that the party had different priorities.
As a result, the BCs who were rallying behind Bandi Sanjay felt let down. They are now waiting to see how the party will seek to win the BCs to its side with the BRS and the Congress trying to nurse the constituency.
Though Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender — who also belongs to a BC community (Mudiraj) and who now enjoys a most preferred leader status — can lead the campaign to please the BCs, the removal of Bandi Sanjay would still be felt among the Munnuru Kapus.
The “double-engine” BC leadership in the party has only one engine now, and given the differences between the two leaders, analysts wonder to what extent they would be able to rally the BCs behind them.
