HYDERABAD: Several questions, doubts and concerns remain in TRS circles about the party leadership’s decision to change its name to BRS.
Although ministers, MLAs and party workers are publicly hailing the name change, in internal discussions they are apprehensive about public acceptance and time it would take and efforts required to make the public forget 21-year old TRS and embrace the BRS. They are also worried about how to counter Opposition parties’ campaign and criticism that the TRS is losing emotional Telangana connect with people with the name change.
Although TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao talked about renaming TRS as BRS to make a national foray for the first time during the party’s plenary held at Hitex on October 25 last year, party leaders and workers never took it seriously and did not believe it would happen anytime soon, certainly not before the 2023 Assembly elections.
They were under the impression that the party boss would not dare to change the name until the Assembly elections, and that Rao’s primary focus would be to retain power for a third term and achieve a hat-trick. They also believed that Rao would make any political changes and enter national politics only after the 2023 elections.
But with the TRS passing a resolution on Dasara renaming itself as the BRS, ministers and party MLAs became confused and unsettled.
While panchayat raj minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao publicly stated on Wednesday that Chandrashekar Rao had launched a new party called “BSP,” a few MLAs and local leaders suggested other names such as “BTS,” “TBS,” and so on.
With the party preparing to contest the upcoming Munugode bypoll under the old name TRS rather than the BRS, a few leaders and party workers believe it would be better to stick with TRS until the 2023 Assembly polls or, if not, to use TRS flexies, banners, and other campaign material until then to ensure that voters, particularly in rural and interior areas, are not confused by the name change and with a fear that opposition parties may exploit this situation and try to confuse voters further.
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