As BRS seeks to shed ‘family party’ tag, KCR and kin retreat backstage

Also Read: Telangana Governor calls 10-year BRS rule a ‘dictatorship’

Kavitha takes a backseat

Now, it is more or less settled that Kalvakuntla Kavitha may not be contesting the Lok Sabha elections. Initially, it was thought she might be fielded from Nizamabad, but no clear indication has not emerged till now.

Even in the Lok Sabha constituency-level meetings that the BRS conducted in the recent past, the party seemed to have taken enough care not to let the impression gain ground that she would go to the Lok Sabha.

In all likelihood, she might continue to remain an MLC and take up the causes of women, like she has been doing at present.

Kavitha was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Nizamabad constituency in 2014, but lost it in 2019 to the BJP’s Dharmapuri Arvind.

Ever since, she had been alleging that Arvind won the election by promising a Turmeric Board, which he could not get anyway.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it in his visit to the Telangana state ahead of the Assembly elections, there has been no follow up action till now.

Also, the BRS suspects that the Congress and the BJP worked hand in glove to defeat Kavitha. The pink party used her poll debacle to establish the “covert” relationship that “exists” between the two parties.

Also Read: Revanth uses ‘corruption’ to take on BRS with action against officers

KTR shuns the limelight

After the party lost the Assembly elections, there was speculation that KCR’s son and former minister KT Rama Rao would contest in the Lok Sabha elections.

However, KTR subsequently dismissed such speculations as baseless and said that he had no intention of going to the Lower House of Parliament.

In fact, he too is making increasingly fewer public appearances.

Earlier, when the BRS was in power, not even a day would pass without KTR hitting the headlines in all newspapers.

He used to come out with one announcement or the other for the development of Hyderabad, and used to be ubiquitous in his presence in the entire city.

This is probably the reason he is very well known to the residents of Hyderabad and they had elected the BRS in all Assembly segments in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits as a token of gratitude for developing the city.

In fact, he spent more time in Hyderabad than in his constituency Sircilla.

Also Read: Revanth Reddy goes all out to delink Telangana movement from BRS

A conscious effort

According to sources, the BRS has been making a conscious effort to shed the image that had been built up over the years that it was a “family party”.

Such an image is casting a long shadow on the party’s ability to get closer to the people. Thus, the BRS seems to be positioning itself as a party that is not only democratic but also very representative in its character. This is clearly a departure from tradition.

If it is a qualitative change, it is a welcome development as more leaders would feel at home in the party.

The BRS cadres had a grouse that they were not about to reach out to the party leadership and as a result the emotional bonding had worn off over time.

In fact, when KCR’s family’s writ ran large in the BRS, Eatala Rajender, the then health minister in the KCR Cabinet, fired the first salvo against him.

At a party meeting in his home constituency of Huzurabad, he said that the BRS had become what it was because of the sweat, blood, and tears of all cadres. “We carried the flag of the party. It belongs to all of us and not to anyone in particular,” he said.

It was the first sign of revolt against the party which he called had turned dictatorial.

Always critical of the exclusivist politics of KCR, Eatala wanted a semblance of equality in the decision-making process. He wanted to let KCR know that there were others who could think for the welfare of the party.

Eatala paid the price in the later days for being a dissident. He was dismissed from the Cabinet and driven out of the BRS.

Related: Revanth-KCR tussle escalates with ‘medicine past its expiry date’ barb

Recent examples

A discerning eye cannot miss the melting of ice in the BRS of late.

The party’s other leaders — like Kadiam Srihari, Singireddy Niranjan Reddy, Palla Rajeswar Reddy, and Vemula Prashanthi Reddy — are now in the forefront.

In the Assembly, too, the opportunity to speak has been going to leaders other than KCR’s kin.

When the caste census resolution was passed, it was BC leader and former minister Gangula Kamalakar who initiated the discussion on it while Kadiam Srihari spoke at length on what the BRS expected from the government.

Even for the lone Rajya Sabha seat that the BRS could win, KCR did not renominate Joginapally Santhosh Kumar, as he is retiring on 2 April, probably as he is related to him.

Instead, he renominated Vaddiraju Ravichandra to one of the three seats that the BRS could win, given its strength in the Assembly after the recent elections.

Also Read: Jolt to BRS as Peddapalli MP joins Congress ahead of Lok Sabha polls

The Harish Rao factor

It was not as though KCR’s clan has completely dropped out of sight after the Assembly poll debacle.

It was his nephew T Harish Rao who fought the Congress on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) in the Assembly. This is because no one knows more about Kaleshwaram than KCR and Harish Rao.

As KCR kept himself out of the Assembly, it was Harish Rao who had to defend the previous government. Harish Rao was irrigation minister in KCR’s first innings and finance minister in his second stint.

Even though he fought the main battle against the Congress from the front, the other leaders of the BRS also had the opportunity to speak in the Assembly.

It was KTR who was not seen doing much of the talking in the Assembly. He did put forth a strong argument in favour of a bill for caste census in the Assembly, but he did not take active part in the proceedings after that.

Even when the tempers were running high on Kaleshwaram, he let Harish Rao and others to fight it out with the Congress. It remains to be seen whether the change would last or there would be a relapse.