The ethos of a state born from decades of self-respect agitation is being betrayed, charges BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao — and he is pointing the finger squarely at both the ruling Congress and the BJP in Telangana. In a sharp post on Sunday, 15 November 2026, KTR accused senior leaders of both national parties of conduct he called 'shameful and unbecoming.'

The Specific Charges KTR Is Laying Out

Rama Rao's broadside targets two parallel scenes. On the Congress side, he describes Chief Minister Revanth Reddy acting 'like a bodyguard of the Gandhis' and the PCC president and a Cabinet minister running behind Rahul Gandhi's bike 'like errand boys.' On the BJP side, he alleges that a Union Minister and the state party president were caught touching the feet of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and carrying his sandals. KTR's framing is deliberate — he is not just attacking one rival, he is placing both national parties in the same dock.

The incidents themselves are presented as self-evident proof of a 'culture of deference' that he argues is alien to Telangana's founding spirit. The research block notes these specific scenes cannot be independently verified from public record, but the political intent of the attack is unambiguous.

Why 'Self-Respect' Cuts Deep in Telangana

Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 after one of independent India's longest and most emotionally charged statehood movements. The core demand was never purely administrative — it was rooted in a sense that the region's people, culture, and identity were subordinated to a dominant Andhra political class. 'Self-respect' was the movement's marrow.

KTR's father and BRS founder K. Chandrashekar Rao weaponised that narrative for a decade in power. Now, with BRS out of government since the December 2023 assembly election defeat, the party is reclaiming that same emotional register from the opposition benches. The argument is familiar: regional parties defend local pride; national parties import hierarchy. It is a potent line precisely because Telangana voters have lived its origin story.

The Sharper Fight This Points To

Indian politics is well-acquainted with this genre of attack. Regional outfits from Tamil Nadu to West Bengal have long accused both Congress and BJP of demanding feudal loyalty from their state units. But in Telangana, the charge lands differently because the founding myth makes subservience to a 'high command' structurally illegitimate — almost unconstitutional in the state's moral vocabulary.

BRS is watching for responses from Telangana Congress and BJP spokespeople, and the exchange is likely to sharpen as the state moves closer to its next electoral cycle. KTR's post is an opening salvo — a reminder to Telangana voters that BRS still considers itself the authentic guardian of the state's identity, regardless of who currently holds the keys to the secretariat.

The dignity of office, KTR is betting, is not an abstract virtue here. In Telangana, it is a political promise that someone always has to answer for.