"I came to know she would be joining the Congress tomorrow. If the chief minister wants me around at that time, I may be present."
BRS Telangana MP in Rajya Sabha K Keshava Rao. (Creative Commons)
BRS Rajya Sabha member K Keshava Rao is all set to join the Congress, driven by his desire to return home. “I have no political ambitions for joining the Congress,” he said on Friday, 29 March.
Referring to his daughter and GHMC mayor, Gadwal Vijaya Laxmi, he said he was unaware of her plans.
“I came to know she would be joining the Congress tomorrow. If the chief minister wants me around then, I may be present,” he said.
Speaking to media in Hyderabad, he said he joined the BRS in 2013 after K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) said he would merge his TRS (now BRS) with Congress if the latter ceded Telangana state.
“Later on, I stayed in the BRS because I thought the newly created state needed a focused effort to develop all sectors,” the BRS Parliamentary Party leader in Rajya Sabha explained.
Keshava Rao said that the Congress had fought for Telangana even before KCR took leadership of the movement.
He recalled how the Congress Forum for Telangana (CFT), led by then-Congress leader M Baga Reddy, had advocated for the creation of Telangana state.
The CFT had written to Sonia Gandhi that 42 MLAs would be ready to quit if the Telangana state was not created.
The second phase of the Telangana movement started in 1998, and several leaders made sacrifices for the new state.
Rao pointed out the crucial role Congress MPs played in Parliament in creating the new state, inspired by the Telangana agitation “The credit cannot go to one person as it was a collective effort,” he said.
Keshava Rao recalled the moment when he met KCR to tell him he was leaving the BRS.
“When I met KCR on Thursday, 28 March, he was not unhappy that I had taken a decision to leave. However, he treated me well and gave me the respect I deserved. I want to return home after 13 years of pilgrimage in BRS.”
He was clear about what made him leave. He said that BRS has become more identified as a family party over time.
“The workers and leaders began feeling alienated in the ever-changing scenario. One should not alienate the party workers. One should always take them into confidence and communicate with them.”
He said another reason was that he could not cope with the party’s anti-democratic trends. “Today, Congress is in difficulties. Democracy is under threat. The party needs support,” he said.
Keshava Rao praised KCR for his commitment to the state’s development. “If I had stayed on in the BRS, it was because I shared KCR’s concern that Telangana had to be rediscovered.
“KCR’s slogan for the rediscovery and reconstruction of Telangana was very powerful and appropriate. As Telangana was crying for development, I was with him. KCR kept his word.
“The state, which was very backward at the time of its creation, is now racing to occupy first or second position in the country on several development parameters.”
Referring to BRS MLC Kavitha’s arrest, he said that he did not object to the ED investigating her role in the liquor scam, but where did the probe agency need to treat her as though she was a convict and deny her even minimum facilities?
“She is not a murder convict. It is an economic offence. Check account books and tally the figures. Why subject her to suffering?”
He said he had suggested that KCR be part of India Bloc, but he would not listen. “I always wanted the entire opposition to come together.
“Had KCR heeded my advice, he would have emerged as a national leader. But he did not.
Now, there is no way. There is a need to face the BJP. It poses a threat to democracy in India,” he said.
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