hyderabad
As the dust of Assembly election defeat is settling down in the BRS rank and file and its leadership, the party has shifted its focus to the preparation for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, and talk of its name change back to TRS.
The matter, according to party sources, was raised in every Parliamentary constituency meeting held so far, not only by the key leaders and activists of the LS seat areas but also by senior leaders, including former Deputy Chief Minister and Station Ghanpur MLA Kadiyam Srihari.
Several party activists, who have been giving their suggestions in writing too, were said to have raised the matter with a request to the party leadership to change the name back to TRS, stating that it was in sync with the people’s psyche for over two decades.
It was out of the party leadership’s ambitions of going national by foraying into the neighbouring States first starting with Maharashtra and showcasing the development model adopted here, that the party’s name change was announced from TRS to BRS on October 5, 2022.
It followed party president K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s visits to Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and a few other States, opening of party offices in Delhi and Maharashtra and also holding a series of public meetings in Maharashtra – all with an eye to get a toe-hold in Maharashtra.
However, the results of Assembly elections in the State have come as a rude shock to the leadership forcing all its plans of expansion to be put into the cold storage. “Even if we plan to continue our work in Maharashtra, we have no answers on why our welfare model has failed to win over the electorate for the third term in a row”, a senior leader observed.
During the preparatory meeting of Mahabubabad LS Constituency held on Thursday, Kadiyam Srihari is understood to have raised the matter of name change back to TRS, openly explaining that it was attached to the Telangana sentiment that kept the party close to people despite electoral ups and downs since 2001. In his view, the name change had denied at least 1.5% to 2% vote share to the party, irrespective of the anti-incumbency factor, although it has no technical authenticity.
Sources said that the matter, along with suggestions received from activists, is being taken to BRS chief KCR.
