Telangana BJP Chief Laxman Says Party Is Only Alternative to TRS ‘Family Rule’

Telangana BJP president K Laxman said in Hyderabad on Monday that people in the state had lost faith in the Congress because its MLAs had joined the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), and claimed only the BJP could end what he called the TRS’s “family rule”.

Laxman’s claims

Laxman told reporters voters did not trust the Congress since its legislators went over to the TRS even after winning. He was referring to the recent merger of 12 Congress MLAs with the TRS, which cost the Congress its status as the main opposition party.

“Henceforth, BJP is the alternative party,” he said, adding that people had seen the long-standing Jammu and Kashmir problem dealt with under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and wanted a democratic Telangana.

Responses to rivals

• He objected to a reported claim by N Uttam Kumar Reddy, the state Congress president, that Amit Shah’s comments on how the Telangana bill was passed suggested the BJP disliked the state’s creation. Laxman said Sushma Swaraj, the late BJP leader, had championed statehood in the Lok Sabha.
• Responding to TRS working president K T Rama Rao’s reported remark that BJP critics were being branded unpatriotic, Laxman said it was the TRS that had earlier called its opponents anti-Telangana.
• He said Rama Rao spoke of religious tolerance but was silent on allegedly controversial remarks by AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi.

A new recruit

Laxman spoke as former MP G Vivekanand, who recently joined the BJP in Delhi, visited the party’s Hyderabad office. Vivekanand, earlier a Congress MP and son of late Congress veteran G Venkataswamy, had been in the TRS before switching. Laxman said his move showed the trend in the state, while Vivekanand accused the TRS government of acting against democratic principles.

See also: Bharatiya Janata Party and elections.

Originally published on 13 August 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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