The Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) in Maharashtra has expressed an interest in opening talks with Bharata Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) for a possible alliance. While news reports have suggested that the BRS, which is looking to contest elections in Maharashtra, has initiated talks for an alliance, the VBA chief in an interview with TNM, says that he has not received any communication from KCR so far. The BRS over the last six months has been inducting leaders from other parties in Maharashtra and has announced plans to contest elections. The foray into the neighbouring state of Telangana is part of KCR’s larger plan to expand nationally, which many of his critics believe will not work.
“We are open to talks. We have not received any communication from KCR. If he had started a year ago then he would have been in a better position. There was a ground for building an alternative earlier,” says Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar.
Though Prakash harbours some reservations about the BRS’s success in Maharashtra, he praises KCR for his governance. Speaking to TNM, the VBA chief says that the Telangana Chief Minister has shown an “alternative model” with his work and his work concerning the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.
“There is a development model as far as water is concerned. He has been calculating it in TMC (Thousand Million Cubic feet) and has (re)distributed it in drought-prone areas. A migratory state has become an import state and this is a model I appreciate,” says Prakash. He adds that in the erstwhile joint Andhra Pradesh state, the labour force was migrating out of the Telangana region and that today the state under KCR is “importing labour.”
Prakash Ambedkar’s statements and willingness to negotiate with the BRS in Maharashtra are significant as KCR plans to expand his party beyond Telangana. After rechristening the Telangana Rashtra Samithi to BRS last year, KCR announced that new party offices will be set up across different states. With eyes on Maharashtra first, the BRS is also on a spree to induct leaders from other parties.
Last week, KCR appointed his nephew Kalvakuntla Vamshidhar Rao as the BRS in charge of Maharashtra on July 28. A 15-member temporary steering committee has also been set up for BRS’s entry into Maharashtra. Vamshidhar is the son of KCR’s elder brother Kalvakuntla Ranga Rao. Before this, several other leaders from other parties were also inducted into the BRS.
The political development in Maharashtra has not gone unnoticed. Prakash was also present beside KCR during the inauguration of the Dr BR Ambedkar statue in Hyderabad. That meeting, according to the VBA chief, had nothing to do with alliance talks. “Yes, I was there for the inaugural function of the Dr Ambedkar statue but that was as his grandson and not from Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi,” he says.
On BRS often being criticised for being a dynasty or family-run political party, Prakash Ambedkar says that KCR has offered more in terms of new governance. “No doubt it is a family-oriented party. We will not get out of that ‘Rajwada’ theory. That will take time for the people to come out of it. As far as KCR is concerned, he has shown something else also,” he notes. While maintaining that it will take a long time for the BRS to become a national party, Prakash says that KCR can grow into a bigger role nationally.
“He can give that national leadership by accommodating other parties. To get leaders (from other parties) is different, and to get votes is different. KCR’s image has to be developed at a national level. He is a state leader in Telangana, and when he crosses into Maharashtra, he is a national leader. And to be that, you need to have a state leader,” he explains.
According to BRS sources, the party is all set to contest the Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Aside from the VBA, the BRS will also have to contend with the All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in the state, which won the Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 general elections from the state. Whether the AIMIM and BRS will join hands or continue on different paths is also to be seen.
The VBA is a significant player as it impacted the winning prospects of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance in different seats in the 2019 general elections. Prakash Ambedkar’s outfit managed to secure around 7% of the vote share then.
The AIMIM, which always maintains it is on “friendly” terms with the BRS, has also been successfully winning seats over the last two Assembly polls in Maharashtra. In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM contested 44 Assembly seats and won the Malegaon and Dhule City seats. It secured about 7.4 lakh votes in total. The Hyderabad-based party had also lost the Aurangabad central and Byculla seats it had won in the 2014 polls.