Family Rule to Unemployment: 7 Reasons Why the Third Time Wasn’t Lucky for Telangana’s KCR

The dream of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao aka KCR to become a first hat-trick chief minister in South India was shattered as the grand old party Congress witnessed a landslide victory in the elections to the Telangana State Assembly. This is the third election to the Assembly after the formation of new state.

The party came to power in the first two elections. From the top brass to field level activists of the BRS are in hope of doing hat-trick by winning the third-time polls. They shed blood, sweat and burned midnight oil to achieve the feat. But the recent polls have proved that the same old strategies will not work every time.

Here are the seven reasons which led to the BRS’s loss:

1. People’s opposition to sitting MLAs: The BRS (then TRS) which registered a grand victory in the 2104 elections, except some slight changes, fielded the sitting MLAs in the early polls held in 2018. Victory became a cakewalk for the pink party in the elections and KCR comfortably consolidated his position as chief minister to the newly born state for second time. After winning two elections continuously, with an overwhelming confidence, KCR went to 2023 elections by fielding the same sitting MLAs with slight changes in some of the constituencies. But the decision led to the defeat and most of the sitting MLAs turned unsuccessful in their respective constituencies. The people were unable to digest to dictator-type approach of the ruling BRS MLAs and that led the opposition in most constituencies in the state. The Congress turned the situation to its advantage and made it one of the major poll planks in the elections and succeeded in conducting campaign against the BRS.
2. Overconfidence: KCR showed overconfidence by expecting that people will once again take the party on victory path after seeing his rule. Although the people have good opinion of KCR and his government, the opposition against the local MLAs led them to vote the grand old party. BRS working president KT Rama Rao aka KTR admitted in an interview that they advised KCR that the party will won 100 seats if it fielded new faces instead of the sitting MLAs. The poll results proved that KCR made a mistake by fielding the sitting MLAs.
3. Welfare Schemes: The BRS had estimated that the people’s welfare-centric KCR rule will once again bring it to the power. From pensions to 2BHK scheme, the ruling party was hoping to benefit from the welfare schemes. But some schemes boomeranged. There was a strong opposition against the selection of beneficiaries under the Dalit Bandhu scheme from the communities concerned. It led to dissent among the other sections of the Telangana society. The Congress released its manifesto with the populist welfare schemes on par with the ruling BRS. The people, who got their own state with decades of struggle, are of the view that they will get the benefits of the schemes no matter who comes to power. On the other hand, the manifesto of the grand old party turned more attractive than the schemes implemented by the ruling party to average voter in Telangana.
4. Anti-incumbency: Emotionally charged people kept the BRS in power for nine-and-a-half years. They made KCR the CM twice. But seeking a change in 10-year-old state, they refused to give them power for the third time. Although the BJP, which has been in power at Centre, was also in the poll fray, they preferred the Congress.
5. The furious unemployed youth: Though the Telangana state was formed in order to get legitimate share in water, funds and appointments in various state government departments, the unemployed youth in the state are not satisfied with the filling of vacant government jobs. The issue of unemployment reached its peak as Sirisha aka Barelakka, independent candidate, Kollapur constituency, became a trend setter on social media. The Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) issued a series of job notifications 12 months before the elections, but it went nowhere. The burning issues such as cancellation of Group-1 prelims twice, non-release of results to the examinations held for some job notifications and TSPSC paper leakage turned the Telangana youth angry towards the BRS rule.
6. BRS-BJP together? Before the outcome of Karnataka elections, the general feeling was the BJP would emerge as the main opposition party in Telangana. While the ties between the BJP and BRS were strong earlier, gradually they distanced themselves from each other. The then political circumstances drove the Enforcement Directorate (ED), one of the key central agencies, to question K Kavitha, KCR’s daughter, in Delhi liquor scam. The unexpected victory of Congress in the neighbouring state gave new lease of life and improved morale of the cadre of the Telangana Congress. The BJP instead of training its guns on the ruling BRS spent most of his time targeting the Congress, which gave more strength to the people’s belief towards both the parties shared an undisclosed camaraderie.
7. Family Rule: The Congress’s slogan that it would end the family rule was well-received by the general public. KCR is the Chief Minister, his son KTR and his nephew T Harish Rao are key ministers in his cabinet. Apart from them, KCR’s daughter Kavitha is an MLC and his close relative Santosh is Member of Parliament. It led to severe criticism for the opposition parties such as the Congress and the BJP that the state, which was formed after decades-long struggle, is under family rule.