KTR To Lead BRS' Statewide Padayatra In 2027, Rules Out Any Alliance

Bharat Rashtra Samithi working president K T Rama Rao on Sunday announced a statewide padayatra in 2027. The move also signals a leadership transition within the party, with party chief K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) stepping back and his son KTR taking the charge.

KTR made the annoucement during a visit to Mancherial district, where he clarified the party's position on possible alliances, including with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

While the BRS is considering reverting to its original name, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), to revive Telangana sentiment and strengthen its cadre base, KTR ruled out any alliance with the BJP or other political parties.

"Alliances have not worked for us. We will contest on our own and aim to return to power," said a former minister.

He added that the padayatra would focus on issues that have left people feeling betrayed by the current Congress government. The issues include, farmers' grievances over inadequate Rythu Bandhu (farm input) support, students facing long delays in fee reimbursements, Singareni coal workers worried about shrinking job opportunities due to the expansion of open-cast mining, and what the BRS describes as a government steadily losing public confidence.

KTR also acknowleged the party's shortcomings, saying that during the BRS's decade in power, coordination gaps emerged with sarpanches, MPTCs, and mandal-level leaders who work at the grassroots and play a crucial role in electoral outcomes.

He also admitted that despite a large migrant workforce from northern Telangana, the government failed to formulate a Gulf policy to support those working abroad. 

"A gap developed between the party and the people," he admitted, adding that "steps will be taken to bridge it."

Responding to reports of a rift within the party, he denied any internal differences, saying, ''Everyone in the party is working for KCR."

On electoral strategy, he outlined the party's approach: "We will field candidates where they can win. There will be no hesitation in taking such decisions."

Padayatras have an almost unmatched record of political success in Telugu states.

In 2003, the then Congress state chief Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy undertook on a padyatra across undivided Andhra Pradesh and won power the following year. Chandrababu Naidu's 2012 walkathon helped revive a weakened Telugu Desam Party and brought him back to office in 2014. 

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's 3,000-km Praja Sankalpa Yatra in 2017  culminated in a landslide victory in Andhra Pradesh two years later. Ahead of the 2024 Assembly elections, Nara Lokesh undertook a padyatra, after which his father, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu returned to power. Even Congress leader Revanth Reddy's sustained grassroots campaigns played a key role in the party's victory in Telangana in 2023.

The  success of all these leaders uderscores a proven political formula - walk among the people, address their grievances, and convert that outreach into votes.

While his father and former Chief Minister KCR had rejected the idea of a padayatra during the BRS' years in power, all eyes are now on KTR to see if he can replicate that script of success and lead the party back to power in Telangana in 2027.