Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and former Telangana IT minister K. T. Rama Rao (KTR) has refused to accept the reasons for his party’s defeat in the November assembly elections.
KTR maintains that the people have not entirely rejected the BRS. Furthermore, he disputes claims that BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his family were inaccessible and arrogant.
“It is all media creation, and the people never felt that we were inaccessible. The BRS lost power due to strategic mistakes and the false promises given by the Congress leaders,” KTR said.
KTR also shared a similar perspective on the defeat of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) led by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections.
He argued that the people did not vote based on welfare and development, as evidenced by the results in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
He highlighted that the BRS in Telangana and the YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh were not completely rejected by the electorate, as reflected in their vote shares of 36 percent and 39.13 percent, respectively.
“Despite the defeat, it is commendable that the YSRCP could get nearly 40 percent of votes in the Andhra elections. This is not an ordinary achievement,” KTR stated.
Interestingly, Jagan Mohan Reddy made a similar observation after the election results, expressing satisfaction with securing nearly 40 percent of the vote share, despite winning only 11 assembly seats.
Like KTR, Jagan attributed the loss to the false promises made by TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and his allies, rather than a rejection of the YSRCP.
However, both KTR and Jagan seem to overlook that they followed similar models in running their parties and governments.
In Telangana, KCR lost touch with the grassroots level and managed the party like a monarch, believing that his welfare schemes and personal appeal would secure votes, rather than relying on MLAs and party cadres. This disconnect contributed to his loss of power.
Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, Jagan operated the party as a one-man enterprise, with no intermediary between him and the voters during the election campaign. He believed that his face and schemes would secure votes, ignoring the importance of party candidates, which led to his defeat.
So, when will these leaders learn their lesson?
