At the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)’s plenary held in Hyderabad recently, when the Telangana Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, made his intentions clear about expanding the party’s national footprint by going at “misgovernance” by the Bharatiya Janata Party hammer and tongs, it was apparent that he was sticking to the script prepared by the high-profile election strategist, Prashant Kishor.
‘A common agenda’
Mr. Kishor had flown down to Hyderabad after his attempt to make headway with advising the Indian National Congress party and even finding a role in it misfired. Mr. Kishor was in confabulations with Mr. Rao over two days and drew up a blueprint on how the TRS could execute its “go national” action plan. Mr. Rao’s assertions at the plenary looked to be much in sync with Mr. Kishor’s strategy of the Opposition taking on the BJP in the 2024 general election. As if on cue, Mr. Rao, laying bare his national political ambitions, spoke of India needing an “alternative political agenda, and ridding the country of the religious hatred spread by the BJP ruling at the Centre”. He laid emphasis on a common agenda for India and not so much on a political front “to make someone a Prime Minister”. An agenda was needed that included an integrated agricultural policy and reorienting the goals of sectors such as industry to meet the aspirations of the people. He noted that people were tired of the BJP’s single point programme of stoking religious passions across the country and wondered if the United Progressive Alliance was better.
Plan for 2023 is unclear
These are familiar semantics that have matched Mr. Kishor’s efforts in trying to build alternative political formations across the country to fight the BJP. In recent interviews to the media, Mr. Kishor, who quit his Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) group, revealed his future political trajectory of being on the other side of the BJP camp, citing how the saffron party has drifted away from the basic principles of the Indian Constitution. He went on to suggest a “realignment, redesigning and rebooting” of national and regional parties to counter the BJP, putting on the table an “alternative narrative”, all this while exuding confidence that defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was indeed in the realm of possibility. In his view, it was not necessary to have a grand pre-poll alliance or project a particular leader as a prime ministerial candidate.
Mr Kishor and his I-PAC’s strategy for the TRS to realise its pan-India dream may look sound and attractive going by the dramatic preview presented by Mr. Rao at the plenary, but there is no clarity yet on his formulation for the Telangana Assembly elections due in 2023. The TRS will be seeking a mandate for a third term from voters who appear fatigued with the governance and the policies for over eight years now. Mr. Kishor has his task cut out and there is expectation that he will wipe out a two-term load of anti-incumbency.
Unfulfilled promises
Notwithstanding its tall claims, many of the promises made by the TRS remain unfulfilled. Opposition parties, the Congress and the BJP, contend that but for a handful of villages in Gajwel (Mr. Rao’s Assembly constituency), Siddipet (represented by Mr. Rao’s nephew and Finance Minister T. Harish Rao) and Sircilla (represented by Mr. Rao’s son, IT Minister, K.T. Rama Rao), not many double bedroom houses have been built anywhere in Telangana. Under “Mission Bhagiratha”, a programme to supply tap water, only 40% of the households have been covered. Round-the-clock free power supply promised to the farm sector is patchy. A plethora of problems haunt the 23 newly carved out districts. After failing to convince the Central government to procure the entire stock of paddy from the State, the TRS government grandly announced that it would do it on its own, but finds the going tough.
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The financial situation is not too comfortable either. Far from having in place proactive policy decisions that could checkmate the BJP, the TRS government has been spending beyond its means on non-productive schemes and freebies and then approaching the Centre for relaxing Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management norms and the allocation of more funds. The Rythu Bandhu, the farmers’ investment support scheme, involves an annual outgo of about ₹16,000 crore. Another new scheme, Dalit Bandhu, which extends ₹10 lakh assistance to each beneficiary, is estimated to cost about ₹17,000 crore annually. The TRS government has been heavily dependent on loans from various agencies, touching a whopping ₹2.41 lakh crore, since the formation of Telangana in 2014.
So will Mr. Kishor’s magic strategy help the TRS turn the tide and pull off a hat-trick? Mr. Rama Rao is sceptical. “People should understand [that] Kishor’s I-PAC is just to supplement our efforts. If we don’t have public support, they can’t save us, PK [Prashant Kishor] or some outsider can’t save a sinking ship....” It is widely believed that Mr. Rao’s national foray is also meant to keep the top political seat in Telangana warm for Mr. Rama Rao. Detractors also point to the fact that Mr Rao, for all his claims of being a veteran political strategist, may have sent out a signal of being on shaky ground by hiring the services of I-PAC.
I-PAC’s plan of action for the TRS was kicked off amid huge confusion caused by Mr. Kishor’s running with the hare and hunting with hounds strategy— attempting a lateral entry into the Congress in Delhi while lending political advice to the Congress’s arch rival in Hyderabad, the TRS. Among other inputs, he is believed to have almost suggested to the Congress to go for an electoral alliance with the TRS. It caused a furore within the Telangana Congress while the BJP watched with glee at how the two parties plunged into chaos. With Mr. Kishor clearing the air, there was relief in the Congress and TRS camps.
Some gains for the BJP
Leaving aside the commissioning of a professional political strategist for the elections, the issue is about how the TRS plans to take on a resurgent BJP in Telangana. The BJP has posted some handsome wins in elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and by-elections to the Dubbak and Huzurabad Assembly constituencies. But for platitudes, TRS has not much to offer. It has not come up with any concrete plan to check the strident hate and polarising campaign being run by the BJP in Telangana. BJP leaders appear to be getting away making provocative speeches, the recent example being that of the BJP MLA, T. Raja Singh, during the Rama Navami procession in Hyderabad. The TRS’ unwritten understanding with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) often comes in handy for the BJP to question the TRS’s moral authority to speak and act against communal parties. Yet, with its sights set on grabbing national political space and attention, the TRS still recognises the BJP as being its main political rival.
K. Venkateshwarlu is a senior journalist based in Hyderabad
