After a great deal of dilly-dallying, former TRS leader Etala Rajender, who was recently dismissed from his post of Health Minister, joined the TRS' primary rival in Telangana, the BJP, on Monday. With this, it became clear that he had abandoned the idea of launching a new political party to fight the rule of the TRS.
Characterising Rajender's assessment of the prevailing political situation in Telangana as sound, political analysts are of the opinion that his decision to forego floating a new party of his own was the correct one since they too believe that there is currently no space for another one in the state's political arena.
Many point out that the process of starting a new outfit is an expensive one, and that the time is not right to make such an investment. They add, though, that joining the BJP may not necessarily have been the best alternative.
Analysts claim that the party, which has been in power at the Centre since 2014, has "failed to treat the state justly" and has repeatedly "neglected" its development during the last six years. In the same breath, they do, however, acknowledge that perhaps joining the saffron party was the only option left open to the former Health Minister.
Some have outright condemned the leader for joining the party despite its "discriminatory" attitude towards the state. The fact that Rajender had himself on various occasions in the past flayed the BJP-led Centre for this shortcoming has only worked against him.
While on the one hand, Rajender's call to join the BJP may help him carve a new political path for himself, on the other his extremely public fallout with the TRS and his choice to align himself with the saffron fold may well cost him a large number of supporters. Many say that the reason for this is the fact that the TRS government and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao have been successful in earning the goodwill of most sections of society by introducing a large number of innovative welfare programmes. To his credit, KCR was able to usher in several welfare and developmental schemes not thought of by the preceding Congress or TDP regimes during the combined six-decade-long rule of the two parties.
Further, most people are deeply aware of the role played by the CM in achieving statehood for the region, and owing to this, they often see the "anti-TRS" criticisms of the leaders of the Opposition as "trivial" in nature. The overwhelming support the pink party was able to mobilise in the recent MLC elections in two graduates' constituencies and the Nagarjunasagar by-election as well proves beyond doubt the degree of goodwill enjoyed by the party.
Other than clearly indicating the limited possibility of the success of a new party in the state, the success of the ruling party also means that Rajender's constant
condemnations of the TRS leadership may rub many the wrong way. Consequently, his "fight against the government" will be an uphill one.
Where the BJP unit in Telangana failed to elicit much support from the Centre in the face of the devastating floods last year and remained unable to get the Modi government to agree to set up a turmeric board in the state, it is hard to believe that the party's newest entrant will be able to get much done for the state.