E-Paper
KCR to address series of rallies starting in Jan’s second week
KCR plans public rallies in January to address Telangana's irrigation issues and boost party support amid internal challenges and anti-incumbency sentiment.
After nearly eight months, Bharat Rashtra Samithi president and former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) is set to address a series of public rallies starting January’s second week, a party insider said on Saturday.
KCR came to the Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters on December 21 and announced that he would step into action to launch a state-wide agitation against the state government, particularly with regard to the neglect of irrigation projects in Telangana, including the much-awaited Palamuru-Ranga Reddy lift irrigation scheme on Krishna River.
On Friday night, KCR held a crucial meeting with senior party leaders at his Erravalli farmhouse in Siddipet district, where he provided strategic direction on how to step up the agitation both inside and outside the state assembly.
According to a party leader privy to the meeting, KCR announced that he would attend the upcoming winter session of the state assembly beginning on December 29 and decide the party’s course of action after reviewing the agenda set by the ruling Congress government.
“This will be the third time, the BRS chief, who is also the leader of opposition, to attend the assembly session, in the last two years. He attended the assembly for the first time in July 2024 for a few minutes. He again came to the House, again for a few minutes in March this year during the governor’s address of the budget session,” the party leader said.
At Friday’s meeting, KCR announced that following the assembly session, the party will organise a massive public meeting at a mandal headquarters near Mahabubnagar, probably in the second week of January, to highlight the alleged neglect of Telangana’s water interests.
He reportedly asked party leaders to immediately begin preparations for the proposed massive public meeting on the Palamuru–Rangareddy project. He suggested the preparation of wall posters and pamphlets, organising local hall meetings, and holding interactions with party workers to mobilise public support.
Sources said the meeting also discussed plans for large-scale mobilisation of people from Munugode and Devarakonda constituencies in Nalgonda district, as well as from Vikarabad and the undivided Mahabubnagar district, for the proposed public meeting. “Similar rallies would be held in subsequent phases in Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda districts to mobilise people’s support for the state’s water rights,” the party leader added.
Political analyst C R Sukumar said while KCR’s comeback into active politics can be attributed to signs of anti- incumbency against Congress, its urgency and form are clearly shaped by the internal threat his daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha represents.
“Kavitha’s talk of a new regional outfit—and her attacks on “BJP coverts” inside BRS and alleged merger talks—directly questions the choices made by the party’s inner circle. Though she avoids criticising KCR personally, the net effect is, it is bound to weaken BRS’s monopoly over the Telangana narrative and create the possibility of a splinter regional formation drawing from the same base if not addressed swiftly by KCR himself,” Sukumar said.
.
