Amit Shah main target was Revanth Reddy and, through him, Rahul Gandhi. The “RR Tax” remark was clearly aimed at linking the Telangana Chief Minister to the Congress high command. Even the way Shah addressed Revanth, calling him “Revanth ji” and “Revanth garu”, was worth noticing. It showed that the BJP sees him as a political force it has to take seriously.
But there was another message in Shah’s speech. BRS, which ruled Telangana for ten years, barely figured in his attack. The party has lost considerable ground since its defeat in 2023. It fell from 39 Assembly seats to 16, and in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it failed to win a single seat. Its vote share also dropped sharply. For a party that once dominated the state, this is a major setback.
The BJP seems to believe that BRS is no longer its biggest obstacle in Telangana. Its focus is now on taking on the Congress government directly. Shah’s choice of targets says as much as his speech did.
Telangana Was Amit Shah‘s Big Hope, But BJP Lost the Opportunity in 2023
Telangana was one of the BJP’s most promising prospects in South India ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections. The party had built momentum under Bandi Sanjay, particularly through an aggressive campaign against the then BRS government. But the leadership change, internal differences and last-minute organisational adjustments disrupted that momentum. Bandi Sanjay was replaced by G. Kishan Reddy just months before the election. The BJP eventually won only eight seats, with a 13.9 per cent vote share, falling well short of the expectations built around the campaign.
The party recovered strongly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, winning eight of Telangana’s 17 seats. That result confirmed that the BJP has a substantial support base in the state. But translating parliamentary success into an Assembly victory remains a different challenge.
Shah’s latest visit shows that Telangana remains firmly on the BJP’s political agenda. The party wants to take on Revanth Reddy directly and position itself as the main alternative to Congress. But the opportunity it missed in 2023 should serve as a lesson. Without a united state leadership, a clear political strategy and sustained ground-level work, another high-profile campaign may not deliver the result Shah is looking for.
