The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao has predicted that regional parties would hold all the aces by 2029 and the coalition governments would rule the country for at least 15 years. He said strong regional parties like BRS, Trinamool Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party are essential to maintain democratic balance in the country.
In a candid conversation with journalist Akash Banerjee on ‘The Deshbhakt’ podcast, Rama Rao spoke about a range of issues including federalism, the North-South divide, Hindi imposition, delimitation, and the evolving role of regional parties.
He offered a sharp critique of both Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress while making a case for coalition-era politics. “Neither Congress nor BJP will cross 150 seats in the 2029 elections. Regional parties will hold all the aces. All the regional parties have stakes in the nation’s progress and can ensure equitable distribution of development,” he said, pointing to how both N Chandrababu Naidu from Andhra Pradesh and Nitish Kumar from Bihar were taking advantage of their position in the current National Democratic Alliance government.
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On federalism, the BRS working president warned that population-based delimitation would unfairly penalise southern states that implemented population control. “Rewarding non-compliant States and punishing those that followed national directives is unjust,” he said, advocating for an increase in MLA seats closer to the people and increasing MP seats in proportion to the current strength of each state.
He also reiterated opposition to any form of Hindi imposition. “India has no national language, imposing one on others undermines our constitutional fabric,” he asserted. He also advocated against political parties insisting that those who live in their State must speak their language, and stated that it was as wrong as Hindi imposition.
KTR criticised both BJP and Congress for abusing power and indulging in political witch-hunting. He said BJP looks stronger only because the opposition is fractured.
On Rahul Gandhi, he was blunt. “He is a good person, but he should run an NGO, not a party. As long as he is around, Modi can relax,” he remarked. He emphasised the need for Rahul Gandhi, as Opposition leader, to expose the failures of the BJP government and its false narratives.
He dismissed allegations linking him to the drugs case or the phone tapping case, terming them distractions to cover the Congress government’s failed promises. He accused the Revanth Reddy government in Telangana of weaponising agencies, citing the 20-day imprisonment of a BRS social media activist over a retweet.
He also questioned why the Centre stopped ‘Operation Sindoor’ if it was committed to its nationalist agenda without bringing it to a logical conclusion. Similarly, he wanted to know the use of the Centre’s caste census without any plans to implement reservations.
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