BRS, TDP on same track

SNCN ACHARYULU
Hyderabad

The BRS and the TDP are now in the same situation. Both are self-declared national parties and now both are trying to get the national tag.But according to the Election Commission of India, both are regional parties. In United Andhra Pradesh, the TDP was a regional party and the BRS (then TRS) was a sub-regional party.

After bifurcation TDP supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu declared TDP a national party. At the same time, the TRS became a regional party and recently changed its name to BRS after its president Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao declared it a national party.

Even after changing the name of the TRS to BRS, the Election Commission considers it as a regional party. Both TDP supremo Chandrababu and BRS supremo K. Chandrasekhar Rao come from the same school. Both are known for political strategies. But sometimes their political strategies fail.

As per rules to get recognised as a national party a party should secure six per cent of votes in Lok Sabha elections and has to win two per cent of Lok Sabha seats (11 seats) with candidates elected from three different states.

It also has to get recognition as a state party in four different states.Going through the conditions of the Election Commission it will be an uphill task for both the BRS and the TDP to get the national tag. However, at present both parties are looking at getting votes than winning seats.

For this, the BRS is concentrating on Andhra Pradesh and other states where Telugus are present in sizable numbers. In the same way, the TDP is trying to strengthen itself in Telangana.The BRS objective in Telangana is to retain power and secure more votes in Andhra Pradesh. The objective of the TDP is to come to power in Andhra Pradesh and to secure more votes in Telangana.

While the BRS is a Telangana-based political party, the TDP has become an Andhra Pradesh-based party due to its own mistakes. However, the TDP has chances of winning some seats in Telangana, but the BRS has no possibility of winning any seats in Andhra Pradesh.

In fact, the TDP had a strong cadre in Telangana but its leadership ignored that. The TDP has an organisation in Telangana but the BRS has to establish an organisation in Andhra Pradesh.

Both the BRS and the TDP are trying to create hype about their existence in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana respectively. For the BRS the ruling party of Andhra Pradesh, the YSR Congress, is not a political rival, but it is not a friendly party. For the TDP in Telangana, the ruling BRS is a political rival. Both the BRS and the TDP are now concentrating on securing votes in other states and coming to power in their own states.