Hyderabad: Stating that BRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao is not available to the people was a misconception, party working president KT Rama Rao on Friday said KCR was very much available to the people and behind the party leaders as guiding force and if KCR comes to the Assembly, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy will run away from the House.

The BRS working president made these comments while speaking to The Hans India on Friday. Replying to a question on CM Revanth Reddy’s comments that KCR should come to the Assembly, KTR asked, “What should KCR hear in the Assembly? My personal opinion as a KCR fan is he should not come to the Assembly."

"It doesn’t matter even if KCR doesn’t come to the Assembly, where foul language dominate the discussions. We are 25 members, and we are enough to face the Congress counterparts.”

BRS leader said that KCR was not a person to hold post of the Leader of Opposition but the post of Chief Minister. He recalled that stalwarts like NT Rama Rao, J Jayalalithaa also did not go to the Assembly. He said that KCR was available to the people of his constituency in Gajwel. “We are all soldiers of KCR, he has trained us and he is making us work. From Lagacherla to HCU and other public issues, he is the guiding force,” he said.

Doors shut for defectors

KTR said that the 10 MLAs who have left the party will not be taken back. There are five to six members ready to come back but our party workers will be dejected with this. My personal opinion is that we should not take them back. The party will take a decision when it comes for a discussion, but my personal opinion is that they should not be taken because politics is not a revolving door. It will be an insult to the leaders who are working hard. I don’t think KCR has any such idea to get them back. KCR is a democratic leader. In the 2009 elections, KCR wanted an alliance with PRP, but the party leaders insisted on TDP. KCR accepted the majority opinion then."

When asked about the change of name of the party, KTR said the party has changed its name to BRS when the state schemes were becoming inspirational to the country.

Some of the Sarpanches from Maharashtra insisted on merging their village with Telangana. “There will be an era of coalition, and we thought why we should not become a decisive force? Technically, only the name has changed. We failed in our first attempt. We lost by a whisker with a 1.5 per cent vote difference. First, we should win at our home,” said KTR. He said the Congress party’s name was changed many times and also the BJP’s name.

‘Congress is our main rival’

The BRS leader said that the Congress party would be their main rival in the state. He said the BJP had an alliance with the TDP and won five seats in 2004 and in the next election they won only one seat going alone. In the last election, they won eight seats. The BJP has eight MPs, all of them were defeated during the Assembly elections. Their top leaders Bandi Sanjay, Kishan Reddy, Dr Laxman, DK Aruna, Raghunandan, D Arvind, Eatala Rajender were all defeated by the BRS candidates. When Sanjay cannot win in his own seat, how he can ensure victory of others, he asked. The BJP is not a force in Telangana and there was no question of alliance with them.

KTR said that the Chief Minister had no guts to hold the local body elections in the state but added that they were ready to contest and can win the elections.

GHMC elections

Regarding the GHMC elections, he said that Revanth Reddy don’t have any idea on what to do with the corporation. “Will he make GHMC into three corporations? Let him decide what he will do. If they change, the delimitation should be taken up. He is keeping cards close to his chest. Either way we are prepared. If they are going to conduct elections in December 2025, we are ready to face,” said KTR.

On the question of what the BRS has achieved in 16 months, KTR said that the party filled confidence among the people that there is a party that will fight for them. When the BJP colluded with the Congress, there was a feeling that the BRS is for people. Telangana Bhavan has become a ‘Janata Garage’. “During the 16 months, we faced big blows, we lost power with slight margin, KCR got injured, Kavitha got arrested, lost in the Lok Sabha elections, ten MLAs left the party but still BRS today is standing firm and is able to inspire confidence not only among the party cadre but also among the people,” said KTR.

The BRS leader said the BRS would not politicise the Pahalgam issue. This is not the right time. Wounds are fresh, let them heal, anybody feels that they can derive political mileage from that sacrilege, he said.