KCR’s decision to pursue national aspirations by renaming Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) as BRS—with B standing for Bharat—stretches political logic. He won’t be elevated from a regional to a national leader by it alone. Additionally, it strengthens TRS’ reputation as Telangana’s party. But for dreamers, a name means nothing!
Is the TRS renovation meticulously thought out with a realistic view to the future? K Chandrashekar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, at least has this belief. It will be interesting to observe how and when it adopts the new name, BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samiti). The TRS’s general body voted a resolution to change the party’s name to Bharat Rashtra Samithi, and the resolution and the updated party charter have already been transmitted to the Indian Election Commission.
A political party may modify or alter its name under the provisions of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act 1951. The name should just be distinct from the already-existing ones without having any bearing on them. SomeOnly, the name should be independent of the existing ones without impacting the latter in any way. Some political parties have done this in the past like the Trinamool Congress which simply preferred a prefix of ‘All India” to it. There are eight national parties, 54 regional parties and 2,797 unrecognised parties in the country so far.
So how will this modification to the TRS affect domestic politics? But why did KCR want a facelift to begin with? Being the cunning player that he is, KCR appears to have accurately read both the “now” and the “future.” Although KCR may never admit it, it should be assumed that he believes the TRS has a short shelf life. Did KCR worry that his party’s popularity in “Telangana,” one of the most well-liked regional parties in the nation, was waning? On April 27, 2001, Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao created the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, or TRS party (KCR). The one and only objective of TRS party then was to achieve a separate statehood to Telangana.
With its uncompromising spirit to make aspirations for Telangana a reality, TRS party played a pivotal role in carrying forth a sustained agitation to achieve statehood for Telangana. Telangana statehood struggle is one of the longest peoples’ movements in the world. The six decade struggle, which began in the early 50s, reached its goal in February 2014. The party has won twice in the Assembly elections since Telangana formation and will be facing the elections the next year. Despite the announcement of the BRS, it seems KCR does not have any plans to relinquish his control of Telangana. He seeks to continue being the Chief Minister while playing a crucial role in the national politics, a la Mamata Benerjee. Thus, he envisages a dual role to himself just as other regional party leaders with national aspirations do.
Whatever could be the reason for his move now, there is always a possibility that he was wary of the BJP’s poaching plans. After the Maharashtra developments and BJP’s taunts that there were Eknath Shindes in other States like Telangana, too, perhaps, he woke up to the possibility of such a turn to events here, too. His move to go national could be more to scuttle such efforts as it could make it difficult to split the party in Telangana once it is merged into the BRS.
Due to the demise of the Congress and the seismic shift in the Minority vote to regional parties, an increasing number of regional leaders are seeking to become national leaders today. Despite all of this, Chandrashekar Rao is still subject to the BJP’s “investigative politics.” #khabarlive #hydnews #hydlive
