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Allegations that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) attempted an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections have resurfaced, this time from Andhra Pradesh BJP MP Chintakunta Munuswamy Ramesh.
Ramesh alleged that BRS working president KT Rama Rao, aka KTR, visited his residence in Delhi when his sister and BRS’ Member of Legislative Council (MLC), Kavitha Rao, was jailed in the Delhi excise policy case. Ramesh has stated that he has CCTV footage to prove this visit. At the house, KTR allegedly sought help for the BRS to align with the BJP, to evade scrutiny from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and other central agencies over corruption allegations.
Reacting to Ramesh’s allegation that he had sought an alliance with the BJP, KTR said, “To divert attention from scams, they are bringing up the useless and baseless issue of merging with the BJP again. BRS is a party established for the people of Telangana, to fight for them. The people of Telangana know that there is no question of BRS merging with any party ever.”
KTR alleged that both Congress and the BJP were trying to confuse the people of Telangana with merger allegations every time they were in trouble.
Ramesh’s comments on Saturday, July 27, were in response to quid pro quo allegations made by KTR, involving Ramesh and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
KTR had alleged that Ramesh facilitated Rs 10,000 crore for the Telangana government through the mortgage of the contested 400-acre Kancha Gachibowli land. In exchange, KTR alleged, Revanth has now awarded Rithwik Projects — a construction firm founded by Ramesh and run by his family — contracts worth Rs 1,665 crore to build roads to Revanth Reddy’s flagship Future City project.
Earlier, in August 2024, about a week before Kavitha was released from jail on bail in the Delhi excise policy case, Revanth had claimed there were chances of the BRS merging with the BJP. He predicted that, in exchange, KTR would be inducted into the Union Cabinet and Kavitha would be released from jail and made a Rajya Sabha MP.
More recently, amid the ongoing rift between Kavitha and KTR, Kavitha too had alleged that attempts were made to merge the BRS with BJP even when she was in jail. The MLC said she had expressed her willingness to stay in jail for longer and was opposed to an alliance with BJP to save herself.
Even before Kavitha’s arrest, while campaigning for the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that then Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had sought an alliance with the BJP, but that he had rejected the proposal.
Refuting the quid pro quo allegations against him, Anakapalle MP Ramesh claimed that KTR was trying to divert attention from the rift with his sister. “There were multiple packages in the roads tender and multiple bids. One package went to L&T and one to Rithvwik… The same Rithwik Projects got contracts worth Rs 2000 crore under the BRS government too,” Ramesh said, further claiming that he had helped KTR in the early stages of his political career.
He also alleged that during the visit to his house, KTR had expressed anger towards Kamma and Reddy leaders for being loyal to Chandrababu Naidu and Revanth Reddy respectively. Calling the idea of a nexus between Congress and BJP leaders “absurd”, Ramesh denied the allegations.
Earlier on Friday, July 25, KTR had accused Congress and the BJP of a “shameless political nexus” in Telangana. He questioned the silence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the alleged collusion between Revanth Reddy and Ramesh.
He alleged that the Congress government in Telangana was awarding contracts worth thousands of crores to BJP leaders and specifically pointed to the Rs 1,650 crore “Fourth City Road” contract given to Ramesh. “While the Congress CM hands out massive contracts to BJP MPs, Rahul Gandhi chooses to remain silent. Is he unaware of this dangerous alliance?” he asked.
KTR was speaking at a student convention marking the merger of Telangana Rashtra Vidyarthi Sainik Parishad into the BRS student wing.
