BRS suffers major blow in Lok Sabha polls

They also felt that as the elections were for the Lok Sabha, national issues like unemployment, reservations, communal rhetoric and corruption, might have played a major role.

Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) which dominated Telangana politics for the last 10 years, suffered a major blow in the Lok Sabha elections results announced on Tuesday.

For the first time since the party’s (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) formation in 2001, the BRS will have no representation in the parliament. Compared to 2019, the BRS’ vote share plummeted from 41.71 per cent to 16.69 per cent in 2024.

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It may be noted that except for Khammam and Mahabubabad whose candidates were announced first even before the Lok Sabha schedule was released, the BRS was confined to third position in 14 parliamentary constituencies in the State.

The BRS’s poor performance in some of the least expected Lok Sabha seats, came as a major jolt for the party leadership. For instance, Medak was expected to be a clear win for the BRS as it is the home district of BRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao as well as of party strongman T Harish Rao.

The party leaders also expected the party to perform well in Karimnagar and Secunderabad where the BJP’s nationalism and communal factors appear to have played a major role.

In Malkajgiri constituency, the BRS holds all seven Assembly seats, but could not secure even the second spot. BRS sources said the party would soon discuss and introspect the factors that led to its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections as well as chalk out an action plan as part of course correction.

However, the initial observations by the party leaders attributed the reasons for the poor performance to collusion between both the national parties which fielded weak candidates where their opponents were strong to ensure that the BRS stood no chance.

They also felt that as the elections were for the Lok Sabha, national issues like unemployment, reservations, communal rhetoric and corruption, might have played a major role.

The BRS (then TRS) suffered a similar major defeat in 2009 when the party contested in alliance with the Telugu Desam party and won only two of nine MP seats it contested, during the Telangana statehood movement.

Earlier, the party contested the General Elections for the first time in 2004 and secured five MP seats out of 17 in Telangana region of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

In the subsequent bypolls necessitated after the party decided to resign to the posts following delay in formation of Telangana State, the party could retain only two seats.

However, after the State formation in 2014, the BRS emerged victorious in 11 of 17 Lok Sabha seats. The party won nine out of the contested 17 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, a reduction of two seats from the 2014 election.

Meanwhile, BRS working president KT Rama Rao stated that the electoral setback was “certainly very disappointing”, but exuded confidence that the party will “continue to toil and rise from the ashes again like a Phoenix”.

He stated that in the last 24 years since TRS (now BRS) was founded, the party and its cadre have seen it all. BRS senior leader and former Minister T Harish Rao also stated that the party withstood numerous ups and downs in the 24 years of its political journey.

He stated that with the support of lakhs of party members and blessings of the people of Telangana, the BRS will continue its fight and ensure that both the Congress and the BJP deliver their promises made to Telangana. He declared that the party accepts the people’s verdict with all humility and will introspect to make course correction in its journey towards a better future.

BRS leader and Nagarkurnool candidate RS Praveen Kumar stated that though he was disappointed to have let down BRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao and others who imposed immense faith in him, he thanked them for standing by him.

He vowed to continue to serve the people of Nagarkurnool and fulfill the responsibilities given by the BRS leadership. he thanked the party leaders and activists who strove for his victory in the Lok Sabha polls.