The Warangal plenary is poised to showcase of KTR’s dynamism and Harish Rao’s grit.
Published Apr 27, 2025 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Apr 27, 2025 | 9:00 AM
K Chandrashekar Rao's plan to go national failed, and post the Assembly election in Telangana, he confined himself to his farmhouse. (Supplied)
Synopsis: The Warangal plenary is a pivotal moment to rebuild the party workers’ morale. BRS is studying the DMK’s organisational model, planning a membership drive, and new committees. Year-long agitations will target Congress’s failures, positioning BRS as the people’s champion. KTR’s call to blend “legacy with innovation, emotion with execution” underscores this strategy.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will celebrate its silver jubilee and plenary at Elkathurthy in Warangal on Sunday, 27 April.
The landmark event, expected to draw lakhs of supporters, is more than a typical anniversary. It will be a bold declaration of intent to reclaim political dominance in Telangana.
The plenary, pulsating with pink flags and fervent slogans, aims to reignite the zeitgeist of the Telangana movement and make the cadre rally under K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR)’s leadership. As KT Rama Rao (KTR), the working president, recently stated, “The BRS is not just a party, it’s the heartbeat of Telangana’s aspirations. This plenary will show the world we’re down but never out.”
The plenary is poised to showcase of KTR’s dynamism and T Harish Rao’s grit. KTR, with his assertive rhetoric, connects with younger voters. Harish Rao, also leading the charge against Congress’s each misstep, has been relentless. At a recent protest, he said, “Revanth Reddy’s corruption and broken promises are our ammunition. We’ll fire until BRS returns to power.”
The Warangal plenary is a pivotal moment to rebuild the party workers’ morale. BRS is studying the DMK’s organisational model, planning a membership drive, and new committees. Year-long agitations will target Congress’s failures, positioning BRS as the people’s champion. KTR’s call to blend “legacy with innovation, emotion with execution” underscores this strategy.
Founded on 27 April 2001 as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) by KCR, its singular mission was securing statehood for Telangana, a region long marginalised in undivided Andhra Pradesh. KCR, resigning from the post of the deputy speaker of the combined Andhra Pradesh’s Assembly on 27 April 2001, channeled public anguish into a mass movement. His fast-unto-death in 2009 was a seminal moment in the agitation as it forced the central government to announce Telangana’s formation, and realised in 2014, after years of struggle.
Post-statehood, TRS transitioned into a governing powerhouse, winning Assembly elections in 2014 and 2018. KCR’s flagship schemes—Mission Bhagiratha (water supply), Rythu Bandhu (farmer support), Kaleshwaram, and KCR Kits (maternal health)— bore his signature, driving Telangana’s development.
In 2022, KCR rebranded TRS as BRS, eyeing national prominence. He opened a Delhi office and reached out to states like Maharashtra, aiming to sell the “Telangana model” and build an anti-BJP, anti-Congress front. However, these ambitions faltered, with regional giants like Mamata Banerjee remaining non-committal.
The BRS’s journey has been a rollercoaster ride. Its highs— 2014 and 2018 Assembly victories — saw KCR’s charisma and welfare schemes secure dominant mandates. His strategic absorption of opposition MLAs, including the 2018 Congress Legislative Party merger, left Congress with just six MLAs in a 119-member house, cementing BRS’s invincibility.
Yet, the lows have been crushing. The 2023 Assembly elections saw BRS lose to Congress, a defeat KCR found so humiliating he sent his resignation to the governor through an emissary. The 2024 Lok Sabha polls were worse, with BRS winning no seats, a far cry from its 2019 tally of nine.
KCR’s reclusiveness post-2023, compounded by his daughter K Kavitha’s 2024 arrest in the Delhi excise policy case and the defection of 10 MLAs to Congress, diminished the party’s image.
KCR remains BRS’s towering figure as he is the architect of Telangana’s statehood. His welfare schemes and political acumen made BRS a monolith. However, his post-2023 withdrawal into a shell, attributed to a hip fracture and distress over Kavitha’s arrest, left the party rudderless. Choosing his Erravalli farmhouse over Assembly sessions, KCR drew barbs from Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who mocked him as the “farmhouse chief minister.”
Since early 2025, KCR has shown signs of resurgence. His 19 February address at Telangana Bhavan — his first in seven months — outlined a protest roadmap against Congress’s “anti-people” policies, like incomplete farm loan waivers and the stalled Dalit Bandhu scheme. He promised to reserve 53 Assembly seats for women and appoint a women’s wing president, signaling inclusivity.
KCR’s assertion, “Future belongs to BRS,” reflects his optimism, bolstered by anticipated by-elections due to defections.
Yet, challenges abound. The Congress’s aggressive poaching, led by Revanth Reddy, threatens to reduce BRS’s legislative strength to a merger threshold, bypassing anti-defection laws. The BJP’s rising influence, splitting the BRS’s vote in 2024, adds complexity. The party’s family-centric image, centered on KCR, son KTR, daughter Kavitha, and nephew Harish Rao, is yet to give way to broader leadership to regain trust.
The 27 April, with KCR at the helm, KTR’s charisma, and Harish Rao’s fire, the event is expected to rally the party’s cadres in huge numbers. For a party born in struggle, the plenary is so planned to lay the foundation for another chance to rise from the ashes like a proverbial phoenix.
The road to 2028 is arduous, which the leaders themselves admit. Harish Rao has vowed, “BRS fight is not for power, but for Telangana’s soul.”
BRS appears intent on scripting a new chapter in Telangana’s political saga. The future will tell the extent to which it will succeed in its mission.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
