HYDERABAD: Telangana celebrated 10 years of its formation on June 2 this year, but KChandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and his Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which led the movement to carve out India’s youngest state, are back where they were over 20 years ago.
The party, in its original avatar as TRS, was formed in 2001 and contested its first Lok Sabha election in 2004 winning five seats as part of the UPA alliance.It won two in 2009 in alliance with TDP. In 2014, Telangana was formed and KCR became the undisputed leader of the state. Not winning a single seat this time leaves KCR with no role at the Centre. “Knowing that the LS polls were crucial for his party’s survival, he had embarked on a bus yatra despite undergoing hip replacement. He addressed meetings on is sues like irrigation water from Kaleshwaram project and the Krishna River water issue. The party held protests and demanded that Congress govt implement promises made during the assembly polls. But going by the results, people want to give more time to Congress,” an analyst said.
BRS had won 11 LS seats in 2014 without allies, securing 34% of votes. In 2019, its vote share rose to 41% though it won fewer seats (9). This was months after sweeping assembly polls with 88 of the state’s 117 seats. KCR seemed invincible at that point. In retrospect, it was the stage from where his popularity graph began dipping. He has been unable to arrest the slide since. His “inaccessibility” and unresolved local issues like state public service commission question paper leaks, joblessness among urban youth, allegations of corruption have dented his image.