A lesson from spectacular implosions of BRS and AAP

The basis for a separate Telangana campaign was that the political power was monopolised by Andhra leaders who had denied a fair share in resources and neglected Telangana’s development. In a separate Telangana, the political power would reside in the Chief Minister, who would be from Telangana. Hence, they would work for the benefit of Telangana and nobody else.
Can a political party implode into oblivion in a mere hundred days? What if it is a party that has been in power for almost a decade? It is hard to believe, but the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) example proves that it is possible and a given when a party is seen as betraying its raison d’etre – reason for existence.
BRS leaders never tire of claiming to be a ‘udyama party’ – a party that came out of a movement for a cause. The party’s original name, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), embodied that cause – the achievement of a separate state of Telangana ostensibly to gain control over its rightful share of water, funds and jobs to build a better, equitable and developed Telangana.
Imagine the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM)  abandoning their core ideology and becoming promoters of free market economic policies. Imagine the Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen abandoning its core tenet of Muslim appeasement and adopting a Sabka Saath approach. Imagine Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) or the Samajwadi Party (SP) abandoning their core Muslim-Yadav (MY) constituencies. One can easily visualise what would happen to these parties at the hustings when voters see them as abandoning their raison d’etre. Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao, the chief of BRS, did precisely this.
The basis for a separate Telangana campaign was that the political power was monopolised by Andhra leaders who had denied a fair share in resources and neglected Telangana’s development. In a separate Telangana, the political power would reside in the Chief Minister, who would be from Telangana. Hence, they would work for the benefit of Telangana and nobody else.
But alas! By the end of almost 10 years after Telangana’s formation, the voters realised that they had replaced rulers who worked for Andhra’s interests, not with those who worked for Telangana and its people’s interests but for a single family’s interests: that of Chandrasekhar Rao’s who ruled the state since the state’s formation till a few months back.
It all started with the BRS chief sidelining leaders from the separate statehood movement and taking total control over the movement party by appointing his family members to key positions. He followed this by filling his cabinet and other influential positions in government with members from his family or close relatives. To this mix, he inducted leaders who opposed the separate Telangana movement into his party and government, thus filling them with leaders dependent solely on his grace for their prospects. He was open about transforming the ‘movement’ party into what he called a ‘faktu rajakeeya party’ (pure political party) whose sole aim was to gain and retain political power. People of Telangana, who were afraid of the Andhra leaders still controlling Telangana politics one way or another, as evidenced by the ‘note for vote’ episode, believed the transformation was indeed a step taken by Chandrasekhar Rao to safeguard the interests of Telangana.
Voters returned the BRS to power for a second term with a resounding majority, eliminating all possible threats of external interference. Yet, Chandrasekhar Rao continued in his ways. That is when people realised the state was hijacked for a single family’s interests. In addition, allegations of hefty corruption by members of the first family in irrigation and drinking water projects, the sinking of the piers of the Medigadda barrage calling into question the Kaleswaram project itself, the arrest of the Chief Minister’s daughter, Kavitha,  by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on bribery charges in the Delhi Excise policy scam, the allegations of illegal phone tapping on a massive scale – especially of women unrelated to politics – which could not have been possible without support from members of the first family, have all convinced the voters that Chandrasekhar Rao indeed hijacked the newly formed state to serve his and his family’s interests alone.
The BRS’ Warangal Lok Sabha candidate relinquishing her ticket yesterday was the latest in a series of desertions during the past few weeks. No wonder, the BRS leaders outside the first family have concluded that neither Telangana sentiment nor the first family can save their political careers and are leaving it in droves. It is only a matter of time before the party empties and is left with only family members. When a ‘faktu’ political party cannot ensure power, no ‘faktu’ politician will remain in it.
A similar fate awaits another party that rose to power based on a movement and betrayed the very cause that was their raison d’etre. The Aam Admi Party (AAP) came to power quickly, riding an anti-corruption movement. Now that many founding members have left the party, accusing Delhi Chief Minister and party chief Arvind Kejriwal of hijacking the party to serve his interests, and that three Delhi cabinet ministers, including the Chief Minister, have been arrested on charges of corruption, AAP too is destined to implode like the BRS.
(The author is BJP TS spokesperson)