Telangana’s Ad-Vantage Point: Congress Mocks KCR, BRS’s Performance Through Parody Videos

The Congress has upped its ante against Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) by fielding Lok Sabha MP and Telangana Chief Revanth Reddy against him from Kamareddy constituency. Along with this, the national party has also launched a sustained political campaign against the BRS through advertisements with the tagline — ‘Maarpu Kavali, Congress Ravali (We need change, Bring in Congress)’.

Having tasted success in Karnataka and the impact of such advertisement campaigns on voters, the Congress has decided to launch this series of advertisements in Telangana as well.

“The idea behind this series is to ensure that people know that they have been mocked by the BRS in the past 10 years. We are only helping the voters make up their minds by showing them the real face of the BRS and KCR family in the ‘public’ mirror. They have taken people for a ride, and we will ensure the voters know about it and make a learned assessment and vote,” said a senior Congress leader in-charge of the campaign dissemination.

This comes soon after the Congress took another dig at the KCR administration by launching a campaign called ‘Bye Bye KCR’, where a car decorated in the colours of the BRS had a listing of alleged corrupt practices adopted during his tenure.

THE ADVERTISEMENTS

The parody advertisement has a stage set in a political meeting where look-alikes of KCR, K. T. Rama Rao, K. Kavitha, among others, are onstage.

An actor portraying himself as the BRS supremo begins speaking: “Namaste to all of you (praja). This time we have new schemes for you; if you vote in our favor, we assure you…”

“We will forget,” continues a voice on the loudspeaker as people in the audience break into laughter.

At this point, the video shows the distressed KCR look-alike turning to those on stage, and another resembling Telangana minister and KCR’s son, K. T. Rama Rao, perplexed.

The leader decides to continue his speech and says, “We will provide government jobs to every home.” Only to be completed by another parody voice on the loudspeaker, which says, “We will leak the question papers.”

Not wanting to be bogged down, the leader continues to say, “The agricultural lands and fields.”

“We will grab them all,” the parody voice continues.

“The Kaleswaram project and Dharani Portal,” continues the KCR look-alike, only to be heard as “we will loot everything” on the loudspeaker.

This is when the leader changes his microphone to continue his address and says – “In our rule.”

“You all are our slaves,” the parody voice completes the sentence for him.

The video ends with the look-alikes pushing a car, the BRS party’s election symbol in reverse, with the punchline: ‘Ten years of arrogance and ten years of corruption should be removed!’

A second video clip was also released within hours of the first, which the Congress said intended to “showcase the fake promises and lies of KCR using satire”. This ad has the same look-alikes of KCR and KTR being questioned by people about the non-implementation of promised schemes, unemployment stipends, jobs, etc., explained a member of the team working with the Congress campaign.

“People will no longer believe their lies, and the BRS’s car will be punctured by the people of Telangana,” said a Telangana Congress office-bearer.

A month ago, a series of morphed video clips created a flutter in the election-bound state, leaving people and party workers in a state of confusion. Some of these viral clips featured leaders across parties, BRS and the Congress. One such fake viral video showed Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy in praise of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for helping in irrigating every acre in the former Medak district by constructing the Mallannasagar, Ranganayak Sagar, and Konda Pochamma reservoirs.

Not leaving the BRS leaders behind, another fake video showed Finance Minister T. Harish Rao in praise of the Congress and criticizing KCR, saying, “He will definitely leave people in the lurch.”

While these video wars seem to have taken the political battle one notch higher, it has also left the voters of the state bemused.

THE VIDEO WARS

The Congress in Telangana has been fiercely contending to regain power in the state, having lost it to the BRS (formerly TRS) in the 2014 elections. Since the setback, the Congress has faced severe defections and a demoralized cadre with a skeletal Congress unit left behind.

The Congress had been looking at building its base since 2021 under the presidency of Revanth Reddy, and the handsome victory the party saw in neighboring Karnataka further bolstered the confidence of the party.

“The Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the Karnataka election success certainly gave the Congress its much-needed revitalization, making it the main challenger of the BRS in this election. The self-goal inflicted on itself by the BJP in the form of removing Bandi Sanjay as the BJP state president and the confusion prevailing over Kavitha’s arrest have also helped the Congress to revive,” said Hyderabad-based political analyst K. Nageshwar to News18.