KCR’s three-point agenda in taking on Modi and BJP

For every action of the BJP in Telangana, there is a quick and opposite reaction by the TRS led by KCR and vice versa. The latest punch in this bout came when the CBI, investigating the Delhi liquor policy case, sent a notice to KCR’s daughter and TRS MLC Kavitha Kalvakuntla. She is now playing ‘hard to get’ with the CBI.

The notice to Kavita comes after the ED named her in an application to a court in the same Delhi liquor case. Just days before that, the Telangana SIT had included BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh’s name as an accused in the cash-for-MLAs case.

Take a quick look at the things that unfolded in the recent past and you will see what this is about.

If BJP imports a candidate from the Congress and attempts to win a bypoll, the TRS beats it to the finish line leaving the Congress a distant third.

If the BJP, as accused, attempts to poach MLAs from the TRS, the latter catches the attempt on camera and its government sets up an SIT to probe poaching bids by alleged BJP emissaries. KCR even holds a press conference tearing into the BJP and Modi over the attempt — but all in Hindi so that it reaches his target audience.

If the BJP links TRS MLC and KCR’s daughter Kavitha to the Delhi liquor scam, the ruling party in Telangana brings up the saffron party’s leader BL Santhosh’s name in the alleged poaching attempt.

K Kavitha at her residence with supporters after the CBI issued a notice to her (Supplied)

If central agencies such as the I-T department and ED conduct raids on TRS leaders and serve notices to Kavitha, the Telangana police name Santhosh — effectively the number 3 in the structural hierarchy of the BJP — as an accused in the cash-for-MLAs case. This has never happened before.

KCR sets an example for Opposition

What is happening between the TRS and BJP in Telangana is not just KCR’s attempt to pitch himself against Modi in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

It is also an attempt by KCR to show that two can play at this game — the catch however is that you have to be in power to do so. That is where the Congress loses out.

The Telangana CM is setting an example of sorts for other opposition parties in the country on how to tackle the BJP, especially when he is looking to become the southern face of a non-BJP-non-Congress front ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections.

Since its ascent to power at the Centre in 2014 under Narendra Modi aided by Amit Shah, the BJP has painted a picture of itself as an unstoppable and invincible political powerhouse, and KCR wants to chip away at this image.

In Madhya Pradesh, Goa, and Maharashtra, the BJP has been accused of toppling elected governments through what is infamously known as ‘Operation Lotus’ — something that mainstream media has proudly presented as some sort of political genius instead of calling it what it is, a means of subverting democratic electoral outcomes.

Is BJP miffed with BL Santhosh?

BJP leader BL Santhosh (Supplied)

In Telangana, however, KCR would love for you to believe that the BJP has met its match.

The TRS’s handling of the alleged poaching case has startled the BJP, no doubt, but the party has doubled down too because no other leader has gone after the saffron party as KCR has.

Not so surprisingly, no senior leader of the BJP has come out publicly in defence of Santhosh, whose name has been repeatedly invoked in the cash for MLAs case. Is the BJP miffed with him? Or is this a strategic silence? A very senior leader of the party suggested that it is the former.

KCR’s main rival at home is not the BJP!

The second point on KCR’s agenda is to take on a more real contender back home. This showdown between the BJP and TRS is helping the Telangana CM immensely in edging out his actual competitor — the Congress — from public debate.

The Congress is TRS’s primary rival in Telangana and the BJP is still a distant third. In the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP got a 6.98 percent vote share while that of the Congress was 28.46 percent. The TRS of course had the lion’s share with 46.87 percent.

A lot of numbers have changed with MLAs jumping ships and bypolls altering positions in the legislature but the Congress, despite being a divided house that is continuously losing its leaders to others, is the primary opposition to the TRS in Telangana.

This standoff between the TRS and BJP is an attempt to create a public perception that the Congress is no longer a player in the political arena of the state and that the fight is now exclusively between the ruling parties at the state and Centre. This narrative suits both the BJP and TRS.

Fighting anti-incumbency

Why is it important for KCR to build a public perception that the Congress is a non-player? This brings us to the third point on the Telangana CM’s agenda.

Being in power for two terms, the TRS has a lot to worry about anti-incumbency. This anti-incumbency would have ideally benefitted the Congress as the alternative to the TRS.

KCR’s strongman tactics in taking on the BJP, TRS leaders believe, will help the party counter anti-incumbency in the next Assembly elections. The party leaders insist that KCR taking on the BJP and specifically Modi also helps keep the Telangana pride plot brewing.

The Telangana pride card becomes important for KCR considering how raids by central agencies have become a threat to those who fund the TRS. The raids, if nothing, are expected to choke the supply of money to the TRS close to the elections. KCR also sees the possibilities of his second- and third-rung leaders, including incumbent MLAs, looking towards the BJP to take shelter and insulate themselves from the wrath of the Centre and its agencies.

Notwithstanding the daily slugfest between the ruling parties at the Centre and Telangana, doubts still linger if the cases — against Kavitha and Santhosh — will be taken to a logical conclusion. Watch what is unfolding behind the scenes in the politics of Telangana in South First’s new show, State of Play.