Industries Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samiti working president K.T. Rama Rao has expected elections to Telangana Assembly as scheduled in December and said his party would return to power after that for a third time, leaving the rivals nowhere near to give a semblance of fight.
In an interview to select media persons on the eve of the twenty second foundation day celebrations of BRS, which was the first after the party underwent name change, Mr. Rao said the rival parties were in total disarray to pose any challenge to the BRS. The position of BJP which made tall claims of forming government was so pathetic that it will forfeit deposit in one hundred out of 119 Assembly constituencies in the State. In the last elections, it lost deposit in 108 constituencies, he recalled.
Asked if there was any chance of him stepping into the shoes of his father and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, he shot back that the former would only be seventy years old when the term of the next BRS government came to close. He will have several years of service left.
Mr. Rama Rao said the recent constituency level meetings held by the party to build an emotional bond with general public gave a true assessment of its strength vis-a-vis the rivals. The BRS was poised to win 90 to 100 seats. It was revealed that the BRS was going in the right direction and emerged stronger after name change. The spate of leaders who joined the party in Maharashtra testified this.
On the national ambitions of Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao, he said the Chief Minister was in no hurry to take a quantum jump in a bid to ascend power. The BRS will maintain equi-distance with the BJP and Congress and continue its consultations with friendly parties. Leaders like Nitish Kumar, M.K. Stalin, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav were in touch with the Chief Minister on a daily basis.
The BRS will play a role in national politics with Telangana and, Hyderabad in particular, as its focal location. The party will enter into strategic understanding with parties for 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
On differences between leaders which came to fore in recent party meetings, he said it was a sign of strength. The leaders craved for identity which was a healthy sign. There could be no complaints if the leaders could create compulsion for the party to give them tickets to contest elections.
