Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao ruled out an alliance with the BJP at the India Today Conclave South 2026, saying the parties were ideologically “poles apart”.
“Our party is 26 years old. We never had any alliance with the BJP,” KTR said, rejecting speculation that has persisted since the BRS lost power in 2023.
He maintained that the party’s shift from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to BRS in October 2022 had not changed its ideology. “If the DNA has not changed, the ideology has not changed, then nothing changes,” he said.
advertisement
Asked whether he would be the BRS’s chief ministerial face in the next Assembly election, KTR said, “Absolutely not,” and named K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR).
He expressed confidence that the party would return to power after its 2023 defeat. “Our comeback will be bigger than our setback,” he said.
His remarks at the annual conclave also included criticism of the BJP’s promises on delimitation and a demand for greater transparency in voter roll revision.
SPECULATION DESPITE REPEATED DENIALS
The BRS’s electoral setbacks, defections and Congress allegations of an understanding with the BJP have kept alliance speculation alive despite repeated denials.
After losing power in 2023, the BRS drew a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress and BJP won eight seats each in Telangana, while AIMIM retained Hyderabad. Leaders leaving the BRS added to questions about its future.
Ahead of the 2024 polls, Union Minister and then Telangana BJP chief G Kishan Reddy said the party would contest independently. BJP MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar also ruled out a tie-up.
A letter from KCR’s daughter K Kavitha alleging that BRS leaders were steering the party towards the BJP fuelled speculation in 2025. However, the BJP denied any merger proposal, but claimed several BRS leaders wanted to join the party.
In March 2026, Telangana BJP chief N Ramchander Rao again ruled out an alliance, calling the decision final, after BRS leaders joined his party.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, however, predicted in April that the next major contest would pit a Congress-Left-Telangana Jana Samithi alliance against a BRS-BJP combine.
He also accused the two parties of feigning conflict and challenged KCR to rule out a future tie-up.
‘WHY INCREASE PARLIAMENT SEATS?’
At the conclave, KTR’s rejection of a BJP alliance was accompanied by criticism of its position on delimitation.
He questioned why the emphasis was on increasing parliamentary seats rather than Assembly seats, arguing that MLAs were people’s first point of contact.
“If you want to do delimitation, why not increase MLA seats? They are the first point of contact for anyone. Why increase Parliament seats?” he asked.
KTR raised concerns about states that had followed population control measures. He favoured keeping the number of parliamentary seats unchanged and expressed support for proportional representation.
He said he did not believe the BJP’s promises on the issue.
SIR NEEDED, BUT QUESTIONS OVER PROCESS
On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, KTR supported the need to update voter lists but questioned how the exercise was being conducted.
“SIR is nothing new to India. It has happened several times in the past. A revision of the voter list is what we ought to do,” he said.
He claimed that the largest number of voter deletions in Telangana had occurred in BRS constituencies.
KTR said the party had approached the Election Commission with its concerns and sought a transparent process involving multiple stakeholders. That had not happened as envisaged, he said.
With Assembly elections two years away, KTR said the BRS had time to seek judicial intervention.
“Our elections are two years away. That’s good news, so we have the opportunity to knock on the doors of the judiciary, unlike Bihar or Bengal, where SIR happened around election time,” he said.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
