The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have decided to contest together in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The announcement regarding the alliance was made on Tuesday, March 5 after BSP Telangana chief RS Praveen Kumar held a meeting with Opposition leader and BRS president K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR).

“We have decided to work together in Telangana. In terms of ideology and all other matters like the implementation of the Dalita Bandhu scheme and other Dalit welfare programmes, we are in agreement,” KCR said while making the announcement.

The former Chief Minister said that both the BRS and BSP have a history of uplifting the weaker sections of the society. “Keeping this in mind, when a proposal for an alliance came up we decided to work together.”

It was earlier speculated that the BRS would ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, BRS working president KT Rama Rao had rejected the rumours.

The alliance was forged after Praveen Kumar consulted BSP chief Mayawati, KCR disclosed. He said that discussions on seat-sharing are yet to happen.

Speaking about the alliance, Praveen Kumar said that it was forged to protect the secular values of Telangana, which is under threat because of the BJP.

“Secularism is under threat because of the BJP. The BJP is planning a huge conspiracy to destroy the Constitution. Under these circumstances, we have formed an alliance with the BRS which has fought for secularism and secular values,” Praveen Kumar said. He said that the Congress was also behaving like the BJP. “Both these parties are a threat to Telangana,” he said.

The BRS has so far announced four candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. As per the list, Nama Nageswara Rao will contest from Khammam, B Vinod Kumar from Karimnagar, Maloth Kavitha from Mahabubabad, and Koppula Eswhar from Peddapalli.

Telangana has 17 Lok Sabha seats. In the previous election, the TRS (now BRS) won nine seats, BJP four, Congress three, and AIMIM one seat.