Telangana Bhavan, the headquarters of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Hyderabad, is deserted on June 4, 2024. In the Lok Sabha polls 2024, the contest is between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party with BRS not in lead if any of the 17 constituencies in Telangana.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
The Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), the party that ruled Telangana for 10 years since its formation with complete control over the State politics, is facing a rout and not even putting up a fight in any of the 17 constituencies.
It is figuring in third place in 14 out of the 17 constituencies while it is in second place in two constituencies – Khammam and Mahabubabad, the seats it held in the 2019 elections. In the Hyderabad constituency, it is at the fourth place behind the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
BRS in third place in its past strongholds
The party is at a poor third in Adilabad, Bhongir, Chevella, Karimnagar, Mahabubnagar, Medak, Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Peddapalli, Secunderabad, Warangal and Zaheerabad constituencies. Some of these constituencies were the strongholds of the BRS till the Assembly elections in 2023.
Surprise trends in Medak
What surprises is the complete rout in constituencies where it was at least expected to give some fight. The most surprising is the Medak constituency, which was the only one expected by the BRS to win, which Congress and BJP too expected, for the reason that Medak is the home district of BRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his nephew and BRS strongman T Harish Rao.
The party was quite confident of winning it with Mr. Harish Rao, a go-getter, made the campaign in-charge and the party strength added to it. In Medak, the party has five MLAs who won comfortably in the 2023 Assembly elections. With these strengths, the party fielded former IAS officer P. Venkatrami Reddy, one of the richest candidates. But it proved futile as he is at third place.
In the Karimnagar constituency, former MP B Vinod Kumar started his campaign much earlier and banked on the fact that Karimnagar has been the bastion of the BRS since the agitation days he was expected to do well. But he is also in the third place.
In Malkajgiri constituency, the BRS holds all seven Assembly seats even now. However, it has put up a very poor show ending at third place, far behind the BJP and Congress candidates in terms of votes as well. This is a huge blow to the sitting MLAs, some of whom are expected to jump the ship after the Parliament elections.
In Nagarkurnool constituency, the BRS roped in BSP State chief and former IPS officer R.S. Praveen Kumar at the last minute. However, he too ended up at third spot way behind the Congress and the BJP.
Nizamabad, which has been the stronghold of the BRS for nearly two decades, has also been disappointing as its candidate Bajireddy Goverdhan, a senior politician, could not even cross one lakh votes staying in third place. The BRS is in second place only where the BJP is very weak as a party with no big leadership or voter strength and these include Khammam and Mahabubabad (ST reserved).
