Hyderabad, Dec 12:
After losing power to Congress in Telangana in the recently held elections, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) appears to be warming up to BJP and planning to join the NDA led by the saffron party.
The buzz in political circles began after party leader K. Kavitha’s social media post on the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. She called it a dream come true for crores of Hindus.
Kavitha, who is the daughter of BRS president and former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, also shared a video of the under-construction temple along with her post on ‘X’.
This is being seen as a U-turn by the BRS, which always called itself a secular party. This comes a week after BRS lost power to Congress in Telangana after ruling India’s youngest state for two terms.
Political analysts see Kavitha’s comment as an indication that BRS may go JD(S) way to join the BJP-led NDA. The JD(S) headed by former Prime Minister Deve Gowda joined NDA in September, a few months after both BJP and JD(S) suffered defeat in Karnataka Assembly elections at the hands of Congress party.
The BRS has come under flak for its apparent change in stand both from BJP and non-BJP quarters.
The timing of Kavitha’s statement is also significant. After losing power in Telangana, the BRS has lost its clout. KCR’s plans for expanding BRS to other states have suffered a blow with the party’s defeat in its home district.
With Congress now its number one enemy in Telangana, the BRS may be keen to come closer to the BJP.
BRS leader and former deputy chief minister Kadiam Srihari also made certain remarks after the party’s defeat in elections. He predicted that the Congress government will collapse in a few months and BRS come to power once again with the help of BJP and AIMIM.
In the 119-member Assembly, Congress has 64 members. The BRS won 39 seats while BJP won eight seats. The AIMIM retained its seven seats.
A section of people already had a feeling that BRS and BJP have a tacit understanding. After creating hype that Kavitha will be arrested for her alleged role in Delhi liquor scam, the state BJP leaders became silent.
The BRS also stopped speaking about the alleged attempt by BJP to topple its government by luring its MLAs with offers of huge money. Last year, three alleged agents of BJP leaders were arrested near Hyderabad while trying to poach a few MLAs of BRS.
This alleged tacit understanding between BRS and BJP may have been one of the factors for the defeat of BRS. A section of Muslim voters backed the Congress party.
Addressing an election rally in Nizamabad Urban constituency, he had asked who demolished Babri Masjid. Slamming the Congress party for using Muslims as a vote bank, he remarked that the party is also doing dramas.
“It is now saying that it will shut nafrat ki dukan. I am asking who demolished Babri Masjid…who got it demolished. If you are secular, you should always be secular and your work should prove this,” the BRS chief had said.