Vijayashanti begins verbal attack on BRS

Vijayashanti, the newly elected Member of the Legislative Council (MLC), has become an outspoken opponent of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) subsequent to her appointment. Until yesterday she remained silent, not making any political statements. She kept herself in the last 15 months since the congress government. She even supported BRS on certain occasions.

But now she got appointed MLC, she aimed her guns at BRS and its president and former chief Minister KCR.

She was formerly a prominent member of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS, subsequently renamed BRS) but departed from the party in 2013 owing to disagreements with its leadership, especially with BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR).

Her recent critiques embody both her historical complaints and her current position as a Congress representative seeking to contest the BRS’s political hegemony in Telangana.

Vijayashanti has primarily criticized the governance record of the BRS. She has alleged that the party has disregarded the desires of the people of Telangana, a cause she asserts to have advocated since the inception of her political career. Based on her experiences during the statehood battle, she has asserted that KCR marginalized authentic activists such as herself after attaining power, favoring familial interests over public good. In public pronouncements, she has indicated that the BRS, under KCR’s leadership, has strayed from its foundational objective, becoming increasingly dictatorial and less accountable to the electorate.

VIjayashanti has raised concerns about the BRS’s handling of crucial issues such as unemployment, education, and welfare programs. AAs a member of the Legislative Council representing the Congress, she has established herself as an advocate for the backward classes, aligning with her party’s initiative for enhanced reservation and representation for these groups.

She has highlighted the BRS’s purported passivity on job development and its erosion of public trust, as demonstrated by its diminished seat count in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections (from 88 to 39 seats) and its total defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Currently, as an MLC, she seems to be executing that duty by directly challenging the BRS, especially in the Legislative Council, where the Congress has augmented its representation to 10 members due to defections from the BRS. Her candid position has not escaped attention. Political analysts see her as a pivotal player in the Congress’s endeavors to solidify its advancements in Telangana and diminish the BRS, which continues to be the principal opposition despite recent challenges.