Later this month, the Parliament monsoon sessions will commence and the BJP led NDA government is planning to introduce the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill. This has put Telangana CM KCR and his party BRS in a spot. Usually when a bill is tabled in Parliament, there will be two groups i.e, one, opposing it and the other supporting it.
The decision of the BRS party on the UCC bill still remains a suspense because it will have political implications. If the BRS supports the bill, the Congress will be accusing that BRS as the B-team of the BJP but if KCR decides to oppose the bill, the BJP will campaign that BRS and Congress have a secret understanding. Amidst this, the decision of KCR is something to be watched out for.
For the last couple of years, BJP and BRS are at loggerheads. But in the recent weeks, the aggression has settled down and there have been political rumours that BJP and BRS have come to a mutual understanding and so both the parties are now targeting the Congress. Strengthening the rumours the BJP national leadership replaced Bandi Sanjay with Kishan Reddy as Telangana BJP chief and Kishan Reddy is someone who has good rapport with KCR. Besides this the Liquor scam involving BRS MLC Kavitha faded away from the headlines.
However, the BRS boycotted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tour of Telangana during the weekend. PM Modi targeted KCR in his speech and in no time the BRS hit back at Modi aptly.
In the case of Congress, KCR was not invited for the opposition’s meeting held last month in Patna because in Telangana, T-PCC chief Revanth Reddy is severely opposing KCR. He leaves no opportunity to criticize the BRS government. BJP is accusing that BRS and Congress have a secret pact to defeat the saffron party in 2024.
In this situation, the UCC bill has become a spot of bother for BRS. If the party supports the bill, Congress will take advantage but if it doesn’t, BJP will take advantage. To clear the UCC bill, BJP doesn’t need much effort in Lok Sabha but it matters in Rajya Sabha. The Upper House strength is 245 and BJP has 92 MPs on its side. This number isn’t enough but BJP can manage with the support of YCP which has 22 MPs while the Aam Aadmi Party that has 10 MPs is also supporting the UCC bill.
Though BJP doesn’t need BRS support, the decision of KCR will matter the most. KCR can take his independent decision nonetheless it is a tough call.