BRS on course-correction, wants to learn from other opposition parties in country

Hyderabad: After a humiliating defeat in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, the BRS is now planning to reinvent itself and also plans to study from other opposition parties in the country to possibly emulate them, the party's working president K T Rama Rao said on Friday.

He also said a team from the former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led regional party would, next month, visit Tamil Nadu to meet some political parties in the southern state, followed by other places.

"The intent is very clear. We are a party of 25 years old. I think there comes a time for everybody, every organisation like where you will have to constantly reinvent. That is the intent. We want to study other parties which have successfully navigated tougher times and have come back stronger," Rao told PTI Video.

Rao’s remarks came after the, once regarded as a formidable party, plummeted to third position in 14 out of 17 constituencies in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (then Telangana Rashtra Samith) had won nine seats and secured a vote share of 41.71 per cent in the 2019 Parliamentary elections. The party's vote share declined to less than 17 per cent in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls. The beleaguered party also witnessed desertions by several leaders including some legislators.

"We also want to understand as the principal opposition what are the kind of issues they (other opposition parties) picked up, what are the kind of methods, methodologies they have adopted. So all of this is important for us to learn from other political parties," he further said.

To a query on the Congress Party’s allegation that BRS has a "tacit" understanding with BJP, Rao dismissed them saying they are baseless.

If BRS had any tacit understanding with BJP, his sister and MLC K Kavitha would not be in jail for 150 days, he said. "I don't think there could be a more straight answer to this (allegations)," he added.

On the state government’s farm loan waiver, he said it was a "cruel joke" as the dispensation reduced it from Rs 40,000 crore to just Rs 17,900 crore.

Inputs from PTI