Ignominious is perhaps a smaller adjective to describe the complete rout of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the Lok Sabha elections this time, with the party failing to open its count for the first time since 2004, when it entered the Parliamentary polls fray after it was founded in 2001 with the single-point agenda of achieving statehood for Telangana.
The party has not only failed to put up any kind of fight, whatsoever, in the Lok Sabha elections but its candidates have forfeited security deposit in seven out of the 17 seats and were able to be runner-up only in two seats — Mahabubabad and Khammam. Party candidates for Medak, Nagarkurnool, Mahabubabad and Khammam seats were able to retain their deposit.
From being in the position of scripting plans to expand the party pan-India till the December 2023 Assembly elections, the slide in the party’s political fortunes has been too fast in a matter of just six months. Despite being thrown out of power after being at the helm of affairs of the newly formed State for nine-and-a-half years from June 2014, the party was able to secure 37.35% vote share in the Assembly polls getting 39 out of 119 seats.
The party has lost a whopping nearly 21% of its vote share in hardly six months after its Assembly election loss with a majority of it being gained by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its vote share has come down to 16.68% as per the Election Commission data put out till 8 p.m. in the counting of Lok Sabha election votes on Tuesday.
A senior leader of the party, who preferred not to be quoted as he not only lost the LS election but also the security deposit too, termed the results as “shocking”. He stated that the party leadership has campaigned positively for the candidates by fielding some political novices termed as “weak” by the rivals.
Even the two retired All India Service officers – Dr. R.S. Praveen Kumar (IPS) who contested for Nagarkurnool and P. Venkatrama Reddy (IAS) who was in the fray from Medak – have failed to change the sharp slide in the fortunes of BRS. The two candidates stood third in their constituencies, though Mr. Venkatrama Reddy was able to establish a lead in a couple of rounds of counting.
Reacting to the results, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao posted on a social media platform: “The party has seen it all in the last 24 years – from stellar achievements, successes and also many setbacks with the greatest glory being the formation of Telangana State. Today’s electoral setback is certainly very disappointing. But, we will continue to toil and will rise from the ashes again like a Phoenix”.
