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The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (; BRS), formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi ( TRS), is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in the state of
Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...
and currently the primary opposition party in the state. It was founded on 27 April 2001 by K. Chandrashekar Rao, with a single-point agenda of creating a separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital. It has been instrumental in carrying forth a sustained agitation for the granting of statehood to Telangana. In the 2014 Telangana Assembly Election, the party won a majority of seats and formed the first government of the State with K. Chandrashekar Rao as its
chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...
. In the 2014 general election the party won 11 seats, making it the eighth largest party in
Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
, the lower house (lok sabha) of the
Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...
. After a landslide victory in
2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election The 2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election was held on 7 December 2018 which marked the second electoral event since the Telangana movement, state's formation in 2014. Key contenders included the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Indian Na ...
, the party formed the government in the State for the second time. In the
2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and vote ...
, the party's tally had fallen to nine seats in the
Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
. As of September 2024, the party holds four seats in upper house of
Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...
. Later on 5 October 2022, the name of the party was changed from Telangana Rashtra Samithi to Bharat Rashtra Samithi to foray into the national politics. After suffering a decisive defeat in the
2023 Telangana Legislative Assembly election The 2023 Telangana Legislative Assembly election was held on 2023 elections in India, 30 November 2023 to elect all List of constituencies of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, 119 members of Telangana Legislative Assembly for its third term. ...
, the party was restricted to winning only 39 seats in the state of Telangana.


Ideology

On 27 April 2001, Rao resigned as Deputy Speaker of the
Telugu Desam Party The Telugu Desam Party (TDP; ) is an Indian regional political party primarily active in the Federated state, states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It was founded by Telugu cinema, Telugu matinée idol N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) on 29 March 1982 a ...
. He opined that Telangana people were being categorically discriminated against within the undivided State of Andhra Pradesh. Consequently, Rao argued that only the creation of a separate State of Telangana would allow for the alleviation of the people's predicament. Accordingly, KCR founded the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Party at Jala Drushyam,
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
in April 2001, with the objective of achieving statehood for Telangana. The party initially won one-third of Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) and one-quarter of Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) in
Siddipet Siddipet, also natively spelt as Siddipeta, is a city in the Indian state of Telangana. It is a municipality and serves as the headquarters of the Siddipet district. It is located about north of the state capital, Hyderabad, and from Warangal ...
within sixty days of the formation of the party.


Politics


2004 elections

In the aftermath of
2004 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election The 2004 Andhra Pradesh Assembly election, was held in 2004 with the Indian National Congress winning 185 of the 294 seats in the Assembly. In the history of Andhra Pradesh, it was the first time the grand old party entered into an alliance wit ...
, the party won 26 state assembly seats and also won five parliament seats. The TRS formed an alliance with
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
and joined the
United Progressive Alliance The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; Hindi: Saṁyukta Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a Political group, political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 Indian general election, 2004 general ele ...
. In September 2006, the party withdrew support for the central government on the grounds of indecision by the government over the delivery of its electoral promise to create Telangana. On 13 September 2006, Rao triggered a by-election in his Lok Sabha constituency of Karimnagar, claiming provocation from Congress MLA M. Satyanarayana Rao and citing delay in the formation of Telangana state, as promised by Congress in its 2004 manifesto. He won the subsequent by-election with a strong majority. All TRS MLAs and MPs resigned their positions in April 2008 when the Central government did not meet their demand for a separate state in its latest budget session. The by-election was held on 29 May 2008. In the 2008 by-elections, TRS retained only seven out of the 16 assembly segments and two out of the four Lok Sabha segments that it resigned, a significant defeat for the party. TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao offered to resign after the by-election losses, but instead remained in office after other party leaders rejected the resignation.


2009 elections

In 2009, TRS formed an alliance with TDP and joined the
Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
-led
National Democratic Alliance The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāntrik Gaṭhabandhan'') is an Indian big tent Political group, multi-party political alliance, led by the country's biggest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...
. The party contested 45 assembly and nine parliament seats to win only ten assembly and two parliament seats. This was considered another major defeat.


2014 elections

In the 2014 Assembly and National Elections, TRS did not align with NDA or UPA and fought the elections on its own. TRS, which led the campaign for a separate State for more than a decade, emerged victorious by winning 11 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats and 63 of the 119 Assembly seats, and emerged as the party with the largest vote share in Telangana. The TRS' campaign had no other stars except KCR who addressed over 300 public meetings, heli-hopping around and often addressing more than 10 meetings in a single day. The TRS not only retained its north Telangana stronghold but also made inroads in south Telangana, a Congress bastion. It was only after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, and the creation of separate Telangana state that the party begun to deliver electoral success. TRS won 63 out of 110 seats it contested in the 2014 Assembly elections in the newly formed state, and went on to form the government. K. Chandrashekar Rao, had taken oath as the first Chief Minister of the new state of Telangana on 2 June 2014.


2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election

The TRS Government headed by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on 6 September 2018 dissolved the Legislative Assembly, the first after the formation of Telangana, to pave the way for early elections in the state. The party announced a list of 104 candidates for elections on the same day. In the
2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election The 2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election was held on 7 December 2018 which marked the second electoral event since the Telangana movement, state's formation in 2014. Key contenders included the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Indian Na ...
, held three months after the house dissolution, the TRS party won with a massive majority. They won 88 seats, more than 70% of the 119 total.


2019 Indian general election

In May 2019, TRS Chief Rao flouted the idea of Federal Front, aiming for a non-
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
and non- BJP government at the centre. The party won nine out of the contested 17 seats, a reduction of two seats from the 2014 election.


2022-present: Name change, electoral setbacks


Bharat Rashtra Samithi

The name of the party was changed from ''Telangana Rashtra Samithi'' to ''Bharat Rashtra Samithi'' on 5 October 2022 to foray into national politics ahead of the
2024 Indian general election General elections were held in Elections in India, India from 2024 elections in India, 19 April to 1 June 2024 in seven phases, to elect all List of constituencies of the Lok Sabha, 543 members of the Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the res ...
. On 6 October 2022, officials from BRS submitted the relevant documents required for name change according to the
Representation of the People Act, 1951 The Representation of the People Act, 1951 is an act of Parliament of India to provide for the conduct of election of the Parliament of India, Houses of Parliament and to the House or Houses of the Vidhan Sabha, Legislature of each State, the ...
to the
Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...
in
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
. As of October 2022, the party activities are taking place from a rented building at Sardar Patel Marg in
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
. On 14 November the party office was inaugurated at
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
.


Andhra Pradesh unit

The party created its local unit in the residual Andhra Pradesh state on 2 January 2023. Dr. Thota Chandrasekhar, former general secretary of the
Jana Sena Party The Jana Sena Party (; JSP) is an Indian political party active in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Founded by Pawan Kalyan on 14 March 2014, it is currently the second largest party in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and a pa ...
, was named its president. Other leaders from Andhra Pradesh who joined the party on the on its state unit's formation include former minister
Ravela Kishore Babu Ravela Kishore Babu is an Indian politician from the state of Andhra Pradesh. He is former Member of the Legislative Assembly from Prathipadu, Guntur Assembly constituency, elected in the 2014 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election. He w ...
, former IRS official Partha Sarathi, and former
Praja Rajyam Party The Praja Rajyam Party () was a political party in India. Formation The first public meeting of the party was held by Chiranjeevi on 26 August 2008, at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. Praja Rajyam means people's rule in Telugu language, Telugu. H ...
leader T. J. Prakash. The state unit suffered a setback in April 2023 when the
Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...
derecognised the BRS as a state party in Andhra Pradesh. The party had been enjoying state party status in
Undivided Andhra Pradesh "Undivided" is a song recorded by American country music singers Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard, the latter of whom is one-half of Florida Georgia Line. The song, which Hubbard wrote with Chris Loocke, was released on January 13, 2021, and is on t ...
since 2004, and then in the states of residual Andhra Pradesh and Telangana since 2014.


2023 Telangana Legislative Assembly election

At the
2023 Telangana Legislative Assembly election The 2023 Telangana Legislative Assembly election was held on 2023 elections in India, 30 November 2023 to elect all List of constituencies of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, 119 members of Telangana Legislative Assembly for its third term. ...
, the party lost their majority, with their vote share falling by 10.52% to 37.35% and their seat count falling from 88 to 39. They retained their seats in the Greater Hyderabad region, but lost most of their seats in the rest of the state to
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
, who won 64 seats and formed the next government.


2024 Indian general election

The party suffered a further setback at the
2024 Indian General Election General elections were held in Elections in India, India from 2024 elections in India, 19 April to 1 June 2024 in seven phases, to elect all List of constituencies of the Lok Sabha, 543 members of the Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the res ...
. Despite their previous national ambitions, the party only contested in
Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...
. However, they were wiped out, losing all 9 of their seats in the state. The party's vote share was over cut in half from 41.71% to 16.68%.


Legislative leaders


List of chief ministers

Chief Minister of Telangana


Deputy Chief Ministers of Telangana


List of Union Ministers


Leadership


Electoral performance


Lok Sabha Election


State Legislative Assembly elections


See also

*
Jaya Jaya He Telangana "Jaya Jaya Hē Telangāṇa" is the state song of the Indian state of Telangana. It was composed by Ande Sri. The song was adopted by many organisations and schools in Telangana during the Telangana movement, replacing "Maa Telugu Talliki". On ...
*
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (; AIMIM) is a right-wing Indian political party based primarily in the old city of Hyderabad, It is also a significant political party in the Indian States of Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, ...
* Telangana Jagarana Sena *
List of political parties in India India has a multi-party system. The Election Commission of India (ECI) grants recognition to national-level and state-level political parties based on objective criteria. A recognised political party enjoys privileges such as a reserved party ...


Notes


References


External links

* {{Indian political parties Political parties established in 2001 Political parties in Telangana Regionalist parties in India 2001 establishments in Andhra Pradesh Telugu Desam Party breakaway groups Neoliberal parties Politics of Telangana