Returning to power will be a trial for KCR

The former chief minister has a complex task before him: Not only does he have to reinvent BRS in Telangana, but reinvent it for Bharat

K  Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) might find political resurrection harder than he thought. The politics of welfare that worked brilliantly in 2018 has failed this time. And behind the defeat were more complex factors of identity and livelihood.

Like many other politicians in Telangana-Andhra Pradesh, KCR was in the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and a member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for four terms. In 1999, he was close to getting ministership but was pipped at the post by a fellow Vellama, former Central Bureau of Investigation director Vijaya Rama Rao, who contested the 1999 elections and became a first-time MLA.

KCR might not