The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have decided to have a formal alliance for the forthcoming Parliamentary elections in Telangana during a meeting between BRS president and former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and BSP State president R.S. Praveen Kumar here on Tuesday.
The alliance would be respectable for both the parties and the seat-sharing would be finalised in consultation with BSP national president Mayawati soon, presidents of the two parties announced after their meeting. The discussions were held over lunch at KCR’s Nandinagar residence in Hyderabad in which Mr. Praveen Kumar along with a delegation of his party participated.
From BRS, senior leader T. Harsh Rao, former Minister V. Prashanth Reddy, Balka Suman, MLC Deshapathi Srinivas and other participated in the meeting along with KCR. Speaking after the meeting, Mr. Rao said the tie up would be honourable to both sides. He stated that the meeting between the two parties had taken place with Ms. Mayawati in loop. Seats and other arrangements would be finalised over the next few days, he stated.
Asked whether Mr. Praveen Kumar would be fielded as the join candidate from Nagarkurnool, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao shot back whether he should not contest from either Peddapalli or Warangal (all three reserved for Scheduled Castes). He is the State president of BSP and could contests from anywhere including a general (unreserved seat).
He stated that BRS and BJP were on the same page ideologically and when in power, the BRS had implemented Dalit Bandhu for upliftment of the dalit communities in the State.
Later, Mr. Praveen Kumar said secularism was in danger in the country as also in the State as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was planning to scrap the constitution and the Congress party too was heading in the same direction. The BRS had been working for secularism from the beginning. The unemployed youth were taking to the streets again, within four months of Congress coming to power in the State.
He expressed hope that the alliance between the two parties would help improve the lives of people in Telangana. A decision on the seat-sharing would be finalised after KCR speaks to Ms. Mayawati.
Although neither Mr. Praveen Kumar, a former IPS officer, nor any other candidate fielded by BSP could win in the recent Assembly elections, the party could secure a vote share of 1.37%. It holds significance considering the fact that only about 2% vote share between the Congress and BRS had ousted the latter from power.
