The political landscape in Telangana is heating up with defections. Some BRS MLAs have switched sides to join the ruling Congress party. So far, five BRS legislators have been poached by the Congress party, and party leaders claim that a few more MLAs will soon follow suit.
However, there is a misconception that the BRS party has fostered the culture of MLA defections. Contrary to this belief, the BRS party has been a victim of defections since its inception. History shows that there have been multiple attempts by several parties to destabilize the TRS/BRS, with an ulterior motive to kill the Telangana Statehood movement. These attempts started from 2004 and continued until 2022.
The BRS (then TRS) won 26 assembly seats in Telangana in the 2004 assembly elections. Back then, the Congress government started luring TRS MLAs from day one to destabilize the party and weaken the Telangana movement. Induced by the Congress party, around 10 TRS MLAs defected. Congress manufactured dissent within the TRS with the help of MLAs Shanigaram Santhosh Reddy, Dugyala Srinivas Rao, Bandaru Shara Rani, Mandadi Sataynarayana Reddy, Jagga Reddy, and Lakshma Reddy, to name a few.
Again in 2007, at the behest of the ruling Congress dispensation, nine rebel MLAs of TRS voted in support of an independent candidate in the MLC elections. The Congress once again attempted to brew a crisis in the TRS, apparently to weaken the party and suppress the statehood movement.
Withstanding all these conspiracies, the TRS successfully led the Telangana movement and came to power in 2014. However, just a few months after the formation of the state, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu made a failed attempt to split the TRS to form a non-TRS government in Telangana with support from the AIMIM. The plan was foiled as AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi apprised the then CM KCR about the conspiracy hatched.
Again in 2015, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu and present Telangana CM Revanth Reddy made a futile attempt to destabilize the TRS government during the MLC elections. This infamous “Vote for Note” episode once again exposed the evil designs of the anti-TRS parties to dislodge the government.
Even in 2022, the BJP tried to poach BRS MLAs by luring them through three mediators. Anyhow, KCR apprehended those three individuals and saved his government.
Resisting all these crooked attempts, KCR saved his party and the government multiple times. Although the BRS attracted some opposition MLAs, it was more of a self-defense and retaliatory measure to the dirty game started by parties such as the Congress and the TDP.