HYDERABAD: The BRS, which is fighting to retain its base in the state following its defeat in the recent Assembly election, is struggling to mount an effective campaign, ostensibly due to the casual approach adopted by its second-rung leaders.
This is giving rise to concerns within the BRS regarding poll management. Try as they might, the party’s candidates complain in private that they are having limited success in getting the second-rung leaders to be actively involved in the electoral process.
This is in sharp contrast to the large turnouts at party supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao’s public meetings where exuberant crowds are seen. However, the lack of enthusiasm among the second-rung leadership is creating doubts among the candidates whether the party can convert the public enthusiasm into votes.
Following the defeat of the party in the 2023 election there has been an exodus of second-level leaders and grassroots figures, including sarpanches, MPTCs, and others from the BRS into the Congress, and to some extent the BJP.
This defection has created a major gap between the party’s candidates and the ground-level support they require.
Candidates fielded by the BRS are facing challenges at the grassroots level, with discontent brewing among second-tier leaders who feel neglected by their chosen representatives. Some candidates are attempting to address this by focusing on booth management and investing resources into securing their traditional vote banks.
However, reports say that there is hardly any support from village influencers and second-rung leaders.
Internally, there are murmurs of discontent among certain sitting and former MLAs who are accused of not putting in sufficient effort into campaigning. A section of concerned BRS leaders have approached party working president KT Rama Rao asking him to bridge the gap between the candidates and the second-rung leadership.
Considering the cruciality of poll management in the election, the lack of enthusiasm among the BRS second-rung leadership is something the party can do without, especially with barely a week to go before the votes are cast.