BRS working president KT Rama Rao ruled out an alliance with the BJP and said K Chandrashekhar Rao would be the party’s Chief Ministerial face in the next Telangana Assembly election. He also raised concerns over delimitation and electoral roll revision.
Published Date – 30 September 2026, 07:52 PM
Hyderabad: Pointing to growing public dissent against the BJP at the Centre and the Congress in Telangana, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao declared that the political mood was shifting against both parties. He ruled out any alliance with the BJP, asserted that K Chandrashekhar Rao would be the BRS’s Chief Ministerial face and exuded confidence that the party would return to power in Telangana.
Speaking at the India Today Conclave South 2026 in Kochi on Wednesday, Rama Rao said the BRS and BJP were poles apart ideologically and had never entered into an alliance in the party’s 26-year history. He recalled that the BRS had contested the 2014, 2018 and 2023 Assembly elections on its own.
“There will be no alliance with the BJP,” he said, rejecting speculation that the BRS could align with the BJP following its defeat in the 2023 Assembly elections.
The BRS working president said the change of the party’s name from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to BRS in October 2022 had not altered its ideology. “If the DNA has not changed, the ideology has not changed, then nothing changes,” he said.
Using a film analogy, Rama Rao said merely adopting the name Shah Rukh Khan would not make a person Shah Rukh Khan. He said the idea was to take Telangana’s welfare and development model to other parts of the country.
Asked whether he would be the BRS’s Chief Ministerial face in the next Assembly election, he categorically declared, “Absolutely not,” making it clear that Chandrashekhar Rao would lead the party into the next election. “Our comeback will be bigger than our setback,” he remarked.
Rama Rao described the political mood in Telangana as an “RRR” phenomenon, Recall, Regret and Revolt. He said the Congress had come to power in 2023 on more than 420 promises, including schemes involving one tola of gold, scooters and a monthly payment of Rs 2,500 to women, but had failed to fully implement them.
The former Minister said the BRS lost the 2023 election by only 1.8 per cent of the vote, or around four lakh votes. However, he said voters were recalling the KCR government and regretting their decision to vote for the Congress. “They are moving towards a revolt against the ruling party,” he said, adding that people wanted Chandrashekhar Rao back as Chief Minister.
He said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was giving greater priority to the Congress leadership in Delhi than to Telangana’s interests.
Rama Rao also criticised the BJP, citing growing dissatisfaction with the Centre. He said student groups, Gen Z youth and the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) were taking to the streets to question the BJP government. He criticised Rahul Gandhi, alleging that as the principal Opposition leader he had failed to stand with people and young protesters.
He also accused the saffron party of trying to divide the country on religious lines, while Revanth Reddy was creating divisions between people who revered Lord Rama and Lord Shiva. He said both parties were diverting attention from jobs and the implementation of electoral promises.
On delimitation, the BRS working president warned that a population-based exercise could disadvantage southern States that had successfully implemented population-control measures. He said the southern States’ share of India’s population had declined from around 24 per cent to 19 per cent and argued that allocating parliamentary seats afresh based on population could reduce their relative representation.
He questioned why Assembly seats were not being increased alongside Lok Sabha seats. “If you want to do delimitation, why not increase MLA seats? They are the first point of contact for anyone. Why increase Parliament seats?” he asked.
Rama Rao favoured retaining the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats and supported proportional representation. He also questioned why women’s reservation was not being implemented within the existing number of Lok Sabha seats. He said the BRS would support an increase in seats only if it was done proportionately.
He said assurances by Union Home Minister Amit Shah that no State would be disadvantaged could not be trusted. He cited the Centre’s alleged failure to fulfil several commitments made to Telangana after bifurcation in 2014 as examples. He also questioned why Assembly seats had been increased in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir but not in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Rama Rao said updating voter lists was necessary but questioned the manner in which the exercise was being conducted. He stated that the largest number of voter deletions in Telangana had occurred in constituencies won by the BRS in 2023.
The former Minister said the BRS had approached the Election Commission seeking transparency and consultation, but its concerns had not been adequately addressed. He felt that the EC had lost public trust and urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the allegations and order an inquiry by an independent committee.
He said the credibility of the Election Commission needed to be restored and the institution strengthened. Referring to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, he said he would have resigned from the post if he were in Kumar’s position.
With the Telangana Assembly elections still two years away, Rama Rao said the BRS had sufficient time to approach the judiciary over its concerns, unlike States where SIR was conducted close to elections.
