BRS working president KT Rama Rao escalated his attack on the Congress on Wednesday, accusing Rahul Gandhi of weakening the Opposition and calling him an “albatross around the neck of India’s Opposition.” Speaking at the IGNITION Summit in Chennai, KTR argued that the Congress has lost the capacity to function as a national counterweight to the BJP and blamed Rahul Gandhi for what he described as a lack of ideological clarity and long-term national vision.
KTR said the Congress has failed to present an alternative roadmap for India on critical areas such as economic growth, job creation, industrial development, and innovation. According to him, this vacuum has turned the party into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “biggest strength”, helping the BJP consolidate power nationwide. He further asserted that after the eras of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, the Congress has delivered little of national significance and is now shrinking across states. Citing Rahul Gandhi’s allegation of “₹1 lakh crore corruption” in Telangana’s Kaleshwaram project, KTR called Rahul “ignorant” and said the project itself did not cost that amount.
He also accused the Congress of damaging Opposition unity by behaving like a “fringe party” in states such as Bihar, where insisting on contesting multiple seats allegedly helped the BJP. Claiming that regional parties once tried to form a national platform under KCR, but the Congress did not cooperate, KTR said the party’s behaviour has left the Opposition directionless.
KTR maintained that the BJP has no long-term future in southern India and predicted that voters in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal would reject the ruling party. Turning to Telangana, he said two years of Congress rule had reversed a decade of growth delivered under the BRS. He pointed to Telangana’s rise in per-capita income, GSDP acceleration, agricultural expansion, and Hyderabad’s tech growth during the BRS period. He alleged that Congress's governance had instead resulted in corruption, instability, and unrealistic financial guarantees.
The Telangana Congress responded sharply. TPCC working president Jaggareddy said KTR had “no moral right” to attack Rahul Gandhi and reminded him that the BRS family benefited from the Congress decision to grant Telangana statehood. He said Rahul and Sonia Gandhi approved the bifurcation despite knowing it would politically damage the Congress. According to the Congress, KCR’s family once sought Sonia Gandhi’s support, and it was only because of Congress’s decision that they came to power at all. Jaggareddy also dismissed KTR’s criticism as an attempt to divert attention from the BRS’s internal power struggles and infighting.
The exchange has further intensified an already strained relationship between BRS and Congress, reflecting shifting political alignments in Telangana and the broader Opposition landscape.
