CONG, BRS HAVE A SECRET DEAL TO HELP KCR STAY IN POWER: SHAH

For nearly three years between 2015 and 2018, the Congress party had no significant or large public rally in Telangana.

- Saubhadra Chatterji

In 2014, K Chandrashekar Rao became the chief minister of India's newest state and "our leaders almost went into silent mode as they feared backlash if they tried to question KCR in those emotive times," Congress worker Ramavath Ramalu said at Gandhi Bhavan, the state headquarters of the party.

Five years later, the Congress has re-emerged as a threat to Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi. By Congress standards, it is a rare achievement. In states such as Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has been relegated to a marginal force compared with powerful regional parties.

"In Andhra Pradesh, we are still trying to overcome the obvious challenges," said Gidugu Rudra Raju, state Congress president who has been camping in Hyderabad.

After Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated, the Congress strategy of claiming credit for forming the new state backfired. Rao, who went on a hunger strike for Telangana, swept to power. More than a hundred Congress leaders, including former state chiefs and former ministers, left the grand old party to join Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which has now being renamed BRS.

"The two other similar examples can be seen in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, where hundreds of Congress leaders and workers have joined the new offshoots," said political analyst Sudhakar Gaud.