How KCR led the TRS through highs and lows over 17 years

K Chandrasekhar Rao, the 64-year-old, Founder-President of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) belongs to that tribe of politicians known for taking quick, surprising decisions that can be diametrically opposite to earlier trails.

Each time he surprised with a decision, KCR, as he is known, could convince his audience with aplomb, using anecdotes and local idiom. Slowly, but surely, the dogged politician, also known to outsmart rivals, managed to become the first Chief Minister of the new State of Telangana in 2014.

Having begun his political journey with the Congress, KCR was drawn to the Telugu Desam Party by the towering NT Rama Rao. That proved a launch pad for his career, and he was with the TDP for 18 years, till he floated the TRS in 2001.

TRS is born

The party was born with the backing of a handful of leaders and had as its single-point agenda the creation of a separate Telangana.

There were rumours that he had quit the TDP after its President, N Chandrababu Naidu slighted him by not making him a minister. But KCR claims he parted ways after differences cropped up with the TDP over the power and rights of the Telangana people. A good orator, KCR was quick to sense the latent but strong sentiment among the people for a separate State and rallied them along in the 13-year-long struggle.

He could muster the support of the late Jayashankar, a strong votary of Telangana, and several other intellectuals. Using the local lingo and building a strong argument against the ‘oppressive Andhraites’, KCR spelt out a three-point agenda: Neellu , Nidhulu and Niyamakaalu (water, financial resources, and jobs).

Different allies

In the tough journey, KCR would be quick to change his alliance partners from one election to another.

If it was the Congress in 2004, five years later he backed the TDP in undivided Andhra Pradesh, trying to wrest a good number of seats for the party in the Telangana region. He rallied about 36 parties across the country to support the Telangana cause.

In the 2004 elections, TRS entered a poll arrangement with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). His party won 26 seats to the AP Assembly and 5 seats in the Lok Sabha.

After becoming an MP, he was made Labour and Employment Minister in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet. The party, however, quit the alliance in 2006 alleging that the promise to carve out Telangana was not honoured.

KCR resigned from his Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat, but soon after retained it in the by-polls with a huge majority. However, his party witnessed a huge setback in the 2008 by-polls to the Assembly necessitated by the resignations of its MLAs. In April 2008, TRS MLAs also walked out of YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s government, protesting the delay in Telangana formation.

It could retain only seven MLA and two Lok Sabha seats, resulting in a loss of face. In the ensuing general elections in 2009, KCR joined the Grand Alliance led by Telugu Desam Party but fared poorly, ending up with 10 MLA seats and two MP seats.

The crucial turn

The Telangana movement gained momentum after 2009 elections and the sudden death of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, then the Andhra Pradesh CM. KCR’s sudden decision to go on a fast-unto-death proved a master-stroke, as it succeeded in extracting a solid promise from the Centre.

When the UPA went back on its promise owing to pressure from the majority legislators from Andhra region and a strong Andhra lobby, the political Joint Action Committee (JAC), formed under M Kodandaram, and supported by the TRS, BJP, Left parties and support from civil society and Marxist-Leninist groups intensified the movement.

The Congress cracked under the pressure and its UPA government gambled to carve out a separate State. This led to the formation of the State on June 2, 2014. But riding on the Telangana sentiment, the TRS swept the polls, winning 63 of 119 seats.

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