Why BRS Decided To Skip Opposition Meet In Patna Next Week

Despite hectic efforts at different levels, Opposition unity still remains a far cry. Amid recent outbursts of Aam Admi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) against Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has decided to stay away from the meeting of Opposition leaders being convened by JDU chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on June 23.

BRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is not going to attend the Patna meeting as the party wants to continue with its policy of maintaining equidistance from both BJP and Congress, according to a senior party functionary who is aware of the developments. Moreover, joining the Opposition alliance would be contrary to the party's expansion to other States like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, he explained.

However, the real reason behind the stance is not too far to seek. Telangana is among the States where Assembly polls will take place in December this year, and BRS will have to face both Congress and BJP as its main challengers at the hustings. In such a situation, it would not be prudent for the party to go with Congress in the name of Opposition unity.

According to the BRS leader, an internal assessment shows that Congress is ahead of BJP in Telangana. "We don't take our rivals lightly. Congress may have got some boost after its victory in Karnataka but it will flounder in Telangana. So, we don't want to give the party a fillip by joining the unity efforts led by it."

Biju Janata Dal (BJD), led by Odisha Chief Minister Navneen Patnaik, is also not joining the Patna meeting on the same count. The other States going to polls later this year are Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram while Odisha will have the Assembly elections along with the parliamentary polls next year. BJD too has Congress and BJP as its arch rivals in Odisha.

Elaborating on the nationwide expansion of BRS, the party leader said, "We have already enrolled 2.5 lakh members in Maharashtra. Several prominent leaders such as former Odisha Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang have joined our party. Shortly, we will open our party office in Bhopal, and later in other Hindi speaking States too."

This expansion move has irked many opposition parties. Referring to the statement of NCP chief Sharad Pawar that BRS is the "B-team of BJP," Rao is said to have told party leaders that BRS expanding in an unprecedented manner in Maharashtra has made parties like NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) jittery. So, attending the Patna meet, where NCP and SS-UBT will also be present, would send a wrong message, he added.

Rao has already conveyed to his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar about his inability to attend the Patna meeting. "Rao has always talked about a non-Congress and non-BJP front. This meeting goes against the basic principle he stands for. He cannot be seen sharing space with the Congress," the party functionary further explained.

Another major reason behind Rao's tactical move is said to be the fact that central investigative agencies have been issuing successive summons to her daughter Kavitha Kalvakuntla for her involvement in the Delhi liquor scam. Hence, he does not want to be seen directly taking on the BJP government at the Centre and invite more trouble for the family.

The last but not the least, once Rao himself was spearheading several efforts to cobble up an Opposition alliance. But his efforts did not bear much fruit at that time and ended up in holding a rally with the participation of just TMC in 2019. So, as fancied himself as its chief architect, Rao would not like to cede that space to Nitish Kumar now by attending the Patna meet.