KCR stokes Telangana sentiment again: This time Karnataka joins Andhra Pradesh as the target

The BRS’ current opponent in Telangana — the Congress — is in power there.

The issues of power supply to farmers and the recent fake letter from the Karnataka deputy chief minister urging Foxconn to shift to Bengaluru have been made discussion points from the rural rachabandas (raised platforms for people to assemble around, usually at the centre of the village) to the urban chai centres.

Also read: The future will be the era of regional parties in India, says KCR

BRS and the regionalism factor

“Every day, many will criticise me, but I don’t bother. The issue here is someone from Andhra, — especially that small actor — is talking about me. Look at how arrogant these Andhra people are, and how they feel about our Telangana people and politicians. If we give them a cent of land, they will come and ride on us.“

— KCR replying to actor turned politician Pawan Kalyan on 28 April, 2014

After Telangana’s separation from the sister state of Andhra Pradesh, following a decades-old political fight over the injustice meted out to the region by Andhra politicians, the first Assembly elections in 2014 witnessed a pro-Telangana wave in favour of KCR, who played a key role on the political front.

The BRS — then the TRS — won 63 seats out of the 119 contested with a vote share of 34.3 percent. This was the first time since the TRS’ inception in 2001 that its performance has crossed double digits in vote share.

I brought about Telangana keeping my life at stake. Now, will you give Telangana to Vijayawada? We should [have to] take our petitions to Amaravati to get any works done from now? Or should we go to Hyderabad? Make a wise choice. We have come out of Andhra after 58 years of fighting. Now these people (the Congress and the TDP) come together to cheat us.

— KCR on Congress-TDP alliance, 4 October, 2018

In the 2018 Telangana Assembly elections, Naidu, who was then the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, filed petitions in courts regarding water and asset sharing with Telangana.

He joined the Congress alliance ahead of the polls, and this move saw KCR spearheading the anti-Andhra sentiment.

This ultimately resulted in the TRS winning more seats than in 2014. The party won 88 seats of the 119 in the Assembly, with a vote share of 46.9 percent.

Also read: Fake letter urging Foxconn to relocate to Bengaluru starts a row

Telangana Vs Karnataka 

Since the Congress won the Karnataka Assembly elections in May, the political dynamics have shifted between Karnataka and Telangana.

This Karnataka-vs-Telangana tussle intensified with the Congress’ sensing a chance of victory and the TDP and the YSRCP opting out of the Assembly elections.

TRS/BRS Assembly elections performance.

But it doesn’t mean the Andhra sentiment is not being used, it is just limited to the speeches when touring the Andhra-Telangana border states.

Any repercussions or anti-government protests in Karnataka are now becoming centre-stage talk in Telangana politics.

Whether it’s farmers protesting in Karnataka for power supply or the Income Tax (I-T) Department seizing cash from a contractor in Bengaluru, all of it reverberates in Telangana.

The most recent flashpoint was the alleged fake letter from Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar, purportedly writing to Foxconn Hyderabad to shift their under-construction Apple manufacturing unit to Bengaluru.

This letter has been widely circulated in political circles.

Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao — who happens to be KCR’s son and the BRS’ working president — said about it, “If BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao is not in power, Telangana’s interests will be compromised. This DK Shivakumar letter is one such example. I am not trying to scare you, but explaining the facts. I will give this letter to you to circulate.”

This provides a deeper context on how, with Andhra regional parties out of the picture, the BRS is still upholding the Telangana sentiment.

The sentiment has been significantly bolstered with leaders from the neighbouring state of Karnataka participating in Congress campaigns in Telangana.

A total of 10 Karnataka ministers, 34 MLAs, 12 MLCs, and two other key Congress leaders have been appointed as cluster-in-charges and constituency observers.

This makes it the only state where the Congress has mobilised political support from a neighbouring state, in contrast to the simultaneous polls taking place in four other states: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram.

Also read: Congress sends army of Karnataka leaders for Telangana campaign

Will it work for KCR?

Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) president Prof M Kodandaram was instrumental in Telangana achieving statehood, and he also headed the Telangana Joint Action Committee and mentored KCR for a brief time.

He told South First, “This could be a talking point, but it won’t work out on the ground. KCR’s push on the Telangana-vs-Karnataka sentiment won’t work because there is no historical connect, unlike Cauvery for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. For an issue to work out on the ground, there should be a historical connect.”

He added: “This worked when Andhra-vs-Telangana happened, especially when Chandrababu Naidu joined hands with the Congress for the 2018 Assembly elections, because the Telangana people were angry at him for the percieved injustice meted out when he was the chief minister of a united Andhra Pradesh.”

Also, KCR would now be unable to talk of regional sentiments like earlier because of the fact that he himself changed the party’s name from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, aspiring to contest elections at the national level, said Kodandaram.

There is a Telangana sentiment among all the people who fought for its statehood, but this time it won’t work in favour of KCR but could boomerang on him, he claimed, because many Telangana fighters feel that their efforts have been sidelined and KCR alone is enjoying and misusing power.

So, Telangana vs Karnataka and Andhra would not be looked at for long among these Telangana-sentiment people, he said.