Within two days after TRS winning Assembly elections for second time in December last with a big majority, TRS chief and CM KCR elevated his son as TRS working president.
KTR was given the task of strengthening the party for upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Ironically, instead of focussing on strengthening party at the grass root level, KTR as working president focused more on encouraging and engineering defections in Opposition parties.
This shows that KTR wants ‘vertical growth’ of TRS in a speedy manner rather than ‘horizontal growth’, which takes time and requires patience and hard work.
KTR admitted 11 MLAs from Congress, 2 MLAs from TDP into TRS in his three-month tenure as working president and strongly believes that he made TRS stronger with these defections.
But the ground reality seems different as people seem disgusted at TRS making a mockery of democracy by encouraging defections even after people giving absolute majority to TRS on its own in Assembly elections.
This resentment among voters was reflected in recent MLC elections, where all the three candidates supported by TRS faced an humiliating defeat at the hands of Opposition parties.
This defeat raised a debate in TRS circles whether KTR as working president is a ‘plus or minus’ to TRS in upcoming LS polls.
TRS leaders and cadre believe that KTR should focus on the ‘healthy growth’ of TRS rather than resorting to ‘unhealthy ways’ of encouraging defections and opting for ‘short cut methods’ to achieve results faster, which don’t sustain in the long run.
They think if KTR does not mend his ways, he will only prove to be a ‘minus’ for TRS in the coming days.