Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is in a bind on going back to its old name, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), with K Kavitha’s new outfit – Telangana Rakshana Sena – sounding exactly the same in abbreviation. The main Opposition party, led by former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), was mulling returning to its old name as many in the party feel that BRS has not hit a chord with the public.
However, it is to be seen if Kavitha’s “TRS” gets the final nod, as the Election Commission of India (ECI) rules also call for a 30-day objection period after approval of the name. “The letter given by the ECI has not been officially given permission yet. We will definitely file objections. But after her announcement of a new name, we may not go back to Telangana Rashtra Samithi for obvious reasons,” a BRS functionary, who did not want to be named, told Siasat.com.
While one reason to go back from BRS to TRS is to strike a chord with its core voters that were built on the separate statehood demand, another was due to the fact that in the rural areas, many supporters of KCR still identified it as TRS, regardless of the name change. “If you ask any voter about our party, they still call it TRS and never really accepted BRS,” the functionary said.
KCR announced the name change in 2022, also unveiling grand plans for a national expansion across states. Having won the 2014 and 2018 Telangana elections, he was confident of a third win. However, the party was humbled as the BRS lost to the Congress, which managed to win 64 out of 119 seats, while KCR’s party got 39 constituencies.
“In the state, there is no political vacuum, as there are already three major parties in the fray. If Kavitha were not there, then it would have made sense to go back to the TRS. Reverting now will only cause more confusion for voters. ECI has discretionary rules on the names of new registered parties. As far as Telangana Rashtra Samithi is concerned, the name is frozen for six years, after which it can be allotted to someone if it is unclaimed. Ideally, the party should take it back before that period,” the BRS functionary told Siasat.com.
The BRS, after its loss, was also severely weakened due to defections to the Congress. It also failed to win even a single seat of the state’s 17 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general elections. Soon after that, Kavitha, who failed to win any election since losing her seat as the Nizamabad MP in 2019, began speaking out against her family members and the BRS leadership. She was eventually expelled.
It may be noted that before her expulsion, she had won an MLC seat on the party ticket and was part of the state’s Legislative Council as a BRS member. With her new party, however, things will get interesting if she does manage to find a foothold in the state, because, in all likelihood, she will split the BRS votes, giving the ruling Congress an edge. However, that may be easier said than done, given that Kavitha has not been as popular as her father KCR.
Moreover, one of the reasons for her split, according to BRS insiders, was that she was seeking a bigger role. “That is not possible as her brother and BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) is next in line to lead. So there was not much space for her. Earlier, she led the party in Parliament, but she herself lost the Nizamabad seat twice as well,” pointed out another leader.
The BRS, while it was TRS, banked on the aspirations of the people from Telangana in terms of jobs and a better life. Many were also disgruntled with the party for not living up to their hopes, which led to its loss in the 2023 state elections. Kavitha will also seek to tap into the same sentiment that her father used to spearhead the separate statehood movement from 2009 to 2014 before Telangana’s formation.
