Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will not be a part of the national Opposition alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress announced on June 27 as the top leadership, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, attended a closed door strategy meeting on the upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana.
While Mr. Kharge tweeted that the people of Telangana desire a change and were looking towards the Congress, Mr. Gandhi urged his party colleagues to set aside their personal differences and work together as a team.
The meeting, which was held at the AICC headquarters here, was also attended by general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, AICC Telangana in-charge Manikrao Thakare, and senior leaders from the State, including Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief A. Revanth Reddy, Lok Sabha member Uttam Kumar Reddy, Renuka Choudhury, and Madhu Goud Yaskhi, among others.
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“People of Telangana are yearning for change. They are looking towards the Congress party. The Congress is ready to take on any challenge. Together, we will usher a brighter future for Telangana, based on shared democratic values and all-around social welfare,” Mr. Kharge tweeted.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Mr. Thakare said that the party leadership would focus on the poor, Other Backward Classes (OBC) and the marginalised, and their strategy would involve door-to-door campaigning with the promises that the Congress plans to offer.
Talking about the BRS, Mr. Thakare said that KCR, as the Telangana CM is popularly known, was spending the money of the State on the people in his family, and alleged that the BRS was in league with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“KCR and his BRS are going to Maharashtra in those areas where the Congress is strong and that way, he is helping the BJP,” Mr. Thakare said at a press conference.
“Kharge-ji in the meeting made it clear that BRS will not be part of the national Opposition alliance. The BRS and the BJP are one and the same,” Mr. Yaskhi added.
The K. Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS (formerly the Telangana Rashtra Samithi), had secured an absolute majority in the previous Assembly polls in December 2018 and is now seeking to play a key role nationally.
On Monday, after several BRS leaders joined the the Congress, Mr. Venugopal had tweeted: “Telangana is ready to defeat KCR’s feudal govt and crush the unholy alliance between BRS and BJP.”
