Facing existential threat, BRS to study other regional parties for lessons in resilience

After losing power to Congress in last year's Assembly polls, BRS is facing an existential threat in the state with at least 10 of its total 38 MLAs jumping ship, and the growing prominence two national parties—Congress and BJP—in Telangana.

Hyderabad: Come September, a team comprising former ministers and senior leaders from the opposition BRS in Telangana will be travelling to several states across the country where regional parties are strong, in a bid to learn a lesson or two to resurrect its political fortunes.

After losing power to Congress in last year's Assembly polls, BRS, which had scored a duck in the recent Lok Sabha elections, is facing an existential threat in the state with at least 10 of its total 38 MLAs jumping ship, and the growing prominence two national parties—Congress and BJP—in Telangana. Sources from the Congress camp suggest that a few more MLAs are considering leaving the party.

At this juncture, BRS has decided to delve into the organisational structure and other aspects of regional parties that have endured political upheavals throughout their long history. These teams will particularly study how regional parties in their respective areas withstood the 'machinations' of national parties and other regional players and survived.

When in opposition, how these parties could keep their flock together is also one of the aspects that the BRS teams will study. Former MLA Balka Suman's team has already visited Tamil Nadu and met with DMK leaders. The BRS team, which termed it a preliminary study visit, said they tried to understand the DMK's structure at all levels, from state to district to block.

In the Lok Sabha polls, BRS had seen a drastic decline in its vote share, and the Pink Party could not even win one single seat. Meanwhile, both Congress and BJP improved their respective performances and won eight seats each out of the total of 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.

Compared to the 2019 polls, BRS saw a 24.48 per cent drop in its vote share. In the 2019 polls, BRS won nine seats and received 41.71 per cent of the total votes cast. In the 2024 elections, BRS only managed to secure 16.68 per cent of the votes. Eight constituencies saw BRS candidates lose deposits, while 14 out of the total 17 Lok Sabha segments saw them drop to third place.

At the same time, the BJP improved its vote share by 15.43 per cent, from 19.65 percent (winning four seats) in 2019 to 35.08 percent in the 2024 polls.

The Congress also improved its vote share by 10.31 per cent this time around. In the 2019 polls, the grand old party won three seats and got 29.79 per cent of the vote. Congress won five seats in the 2024 elections and polled around 40.10 per cent of the votes.

Many believe that during his time in power, BRS patriarch K Chandrashekar Rao neglected party structure, and with the departure of MLAs, a leadership void is emerging in certain areas.

BRS teams will be studying several parties—DMK, AIADMK, TMC, BJD, YSRCP, and a few others. These visits will begin in September. BRS' working president and KCR's son, K T Rama Rao, will also visit a few states.

“Former ministers and other senior leaders, including me, will visit other states to study the organisational structure of other regional parties. Each party has a different structure. We have completed 24 years. This is the first time we are sitting in opposition. It's a new role. For the first 14 years, our party was synonymous with the fight for separate statehood. Last ten years, we were in power. We also have to learn, unlearn, adapt, and make a fresh beginning. After studying those parties and experiences, we will start new committees, launch a new membership drive, and undertake all other necessary tasks. We already have committees. But wherever new committees are required and if there are any gaps that have to be filled will be done after September, after these visits,” said KTR.

A few days ago, a BRS team led by former MLA Suman visited the DMK office, ‘Anna Arivalayam’, in Chennai and interacted with DMK leaders, including former MP RS Bharati and former MLA Shekhar.