Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s public demeanour has taken a turn, it appears. From going ‘missing in action’ to getting back in the thick of things, a lot seems to have changed for the CM over the last few months.
As someone who has faced the criticism of barely being seen in public, KCR is now seen having lunch with commoners.
Allegations of not being accessible to his own ministers have also haunted him. In June, he hosted an ‘all-party’ meeting for the first time since he took over as the CM in 2014.
KCR has also been launching social development schemes publicly, visiting constituencies, and, in general, just looking to make his presence felt in public events.
According to analysts, this turn is just his ‘prep’ for the 2023 state assembly elections amid fear of a growing dissent and a now-visible opposition, and isn’t going to last.
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How KCR is looking to mend image
Since he came to power in the bifurcated state of Telangana, KCR has been slammed for his leadership style — the allegation of ruling from the four walls of his lavish office-cum-residence Pragati Bhavan, in Hyderabad’s centre, or often from his farmhouse in Erravalli, Siddipet district, which is around two hours from the city.
But it is the rise of opposition parties — especially the BJP, which gave KCR’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) a taste of defeat in a bypoll last year — that appears to have necessitated the CM to finally step out.
Both Congress and BJP party chiefs, newly appointed over the last year, are considered to be articulate, vocally aggressive and are staunch critics of the CM. They have managed to put the CM on notice.
To tackle all of this, KCR started moving around publicly.
In June, the CM conducted a ‘surprise’ visit in a few districts across the state to inspect the development works in villages and towns. He visited at least four districts as part of this tour. One of them was Warangal, where he laid a foundation stone for a 30-storey multispecialty hospital.
The same month, he participated in a community lunch in his adoptive village Vasalamarri and had lunch with about 2,600 people. After lunch, he was even seen moving to different tables and interacting with a few villagers.
Towards the end of the month, he was again out in public to unveil a 26-foot bronze statue of late Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in the city.
The statue was unveiled as part of the closing ceremony of the year-long birth centenary celebrations of Rao, which the Telangana government officially started in 2020 according to the CM’s orders.
In early July, KCR visited Sircilla assembly constituency, from where his son, IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao is MLA, to inaugurate 400 newly-built double bedroom houses under a housing scheme that was one of his promises to the people of the state in 2014.
All of this came after he visited the state’s then Covid-only Gandhi Hospital in May. It was his first public visit since the pandemic began and he took over the health ministry.
As Hyderabad was facing devastating floods in October 2020, the CM had faced flak for the lack of physical presence and monitoring the situation from indoors. The state government was also criticised for the poor handling of the pandemic — from extremely low testing to lack of infrastructure.
At a time when the CMs of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka chose to be part of the vaccination drive launch, KCR did not.
His latest welfare scheme, ‘Dalit Bandhu’ was launched in the same Vasalamarri village this month. Under the scheme, eligible scheduled caste (SC) families will get a cash assistance of Rs 10 lakh to empower them economically.
The scheme — which has led to widespread criticism, with the opposition alleging that the CM is trying to woo a particular community for votes — was initially planned to be launched in Huzurabad, which is up for a bypoll.
The Dalit voting population in the state is at 17 per cent, and this scheme is probably the largest such in the country.
In an internal party meeting Tuesday, KCR also focused on restructuring the party thoroughly in September — all the way from village to state level, constituting youth, women, student wings in the party, and appointing party district presidents almost after a gap of four years.
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‘Acting against his usual self’
Senior political observer Bhandaru Srinivas Rao said there’s a reason behind KCR stepping out.
“If KCR has stepped out then that means there is a reason behind it and this time it is the 2023 elections. He sets a task for himself — be it the Telangana agitation or elections and he will go to any extent to achieve that,” he told ThePrint.
“He will be ready to compromise and act against his usual self. In 2018 too, he did something similar and then advanced the state elections.”
The crucial bypoll coming up in Huzurabad is in the constituency of ousted minister Eatala Rajender.
Rajender, once a close aide of KCR, was stripped of his ministry following allegations of land encroachment but insiders point to a fallout between the two over leadership issues. After his exit from the TRS, Rajender had alleged that being a minister in KCR’s cabinet is worse than being a “slave”.
The ousted leader then joined the BJP and is now contesting against the ruling party.
Rajender, along with BJP state chief Bandi Sanjay, is a backward class leader. MP Arvind Dharmapuri is another strong community face in the BJP. This has led to fears that this vote bank, which is about 23 per cent in the state, might split.
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KCR never expected a defeat, worried about his ‘charm’
One of the first setbacks for KCR was the TRS defeat in the Dubbaka bypoll last year, which the BJP won. The next blow was in the hotly-contested Hyderabad municipal election in December 2020, where his party missed the halfway mark and BJP won 10 times over its previous 2018 count.
While the BJP won 48 of 150 wards in the civic body, TRS got 55. Congress won two while the AIMIM won 44.
Since he took over, Bandi Sanjay, who is considered to be a hardcore critic of the CM, has often helped the BJP to set a narrative to highlight the anti-incumbency sentiment against KCR.
Newly-appointed Congress state chief Revanth Reddy is an MP who criticises the KCR government even more and is considered to have strong traction among youth.
He has raised a key issue in the state of rising unemployment, tackling which was one of the CM’s promises at the time of Telangana agitation.
“He (KCR) understood that his charm is no longer the same on the ground, he realised there are voices which can stand up against him and attract people. So, he started acting,” said BJP leader N. Ramchander Rao.
“The next immediate bypoll was Nagarjuna Sagar (April) for which he even conducted public meetings — is that not unusual for him to do so?”
According to analyst Srinivas Rao, KCR, whose party is used to victories, especially after a thumping one in 2018 assembly polls, did not expect a defeat in Dubbaka bypoll.
“Both BJP and Congress are criticising and have been successfully highlighting his anti-incumbency daily. They’ve built the narrative that there are parties in Telangana who can now fight against him and to stop it from spreading further, he stepped out. He realised he cannot afford to ignore it,” Rao said.
“He has enslaved people to his schemes and also people realised that he could not fulfil the promises he made. He’s shaky about his ground and wants to reinstate confidence,” said Congress leader Dasoju Sravan.
“His focus is not on overall socio-economic development but just has to attract voters with these schemes before elections.”
(Edited by Amit Upadhyaya)
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