The Bharat Rashtra Samithi recently made its debut in Andhra Pradesh, with former Jana Sena Party leader Thota Chandrasekhar and former minister Ravela Kishore Babu joining the party. Chandrasekhar will lead the Andhra Pradesh unit of the BRS.
This is an interesting development as Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao rose to power riding on a pro-Telangana and anti-Andhra wave. Now that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi has become the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Rao is positioning the party as a national one and seeking support from his neighbouring state.
Recently, Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar took a dig at the new inductees into the BRS saying it was a paradox that the Telangana chief minister, who he claimed had insulted the people of Andhra Pradesh, was now talking about the development of the state. Kumar also recalled how KCR had said Andhra biryani tasted “like cow dung” and how the state’s traditional foods like ulavucharu were consumed by cattle in Telangana.
From here, it will be interesting to see how the Telangana CM will brand the BRS in Andhra Pradesh, but before doing so, there are some raging issues that he needs to address. “KCR has to make his stand clear on the seven mandals of Khammam that became part of Andhra Pradesh through the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill of 2014. In 2021, the CM said his government was trying for the demerger of five of the seven mandals after a part of Bhadrachalam town became part of AP,” political observer Kambalapally Krishna, who runs a consultancy called Voice of Telangana and Andhra, told News18.
Bhadrachalam is a major Hindu pilgrimage site. The CM also has to make his stand clear about the Polavaram project. The irrigation project on Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh has been a bone of contention between the two states as it threatens to flood areas of Telangana, especially Bhadrachalam.
Recently, the KCR-led government moved the Supreme Court alleging that the Centre had turned a deaf ear to their concerns about the project. They requested that the project should be given the green light only after a thorough flood analysis is done.
Besides these, a water dispute has been ongoing since the bifurcation of the state in 2014. The water of Krishna river was divided between Andhra and Telangana in the ratio of 66:34, and Telangana wants it to be 50:50. Last year, the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government filed a writ petition in the SC asking for its due share of water.
Asset division is yet to be completed between the two states. In December last year, the Andhra government moved the SC contending that the actual division of assets has not even begun even after eight years of bifurcation. It said not sharing assets helped the Telangana government as 91 percent of these are located in Andhra Pradesh.
Krishna said making Chandrasekhar the head of the Andhra BRS had a political significance as well. “The BRS chief elected from AP belongs to the Kapu community. He is going to get Kapu votes in favour of BRS. It is known that Kapus support Pawan Kalyan, the founder of Jana Sena. There is speculation that JSP might join hands with the Telugu Desam Party and BJP, and go as one force against YSR Congress Party. If the Kapu votes now go with the BRS, Andhra CM Reddy stands to gain. Despite differences between the two states, the two CMs are said to be on good terms,” said the political commentator.
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