Sonipat (Haryana) [India], September 17 (ANI): Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President and MLA KT Rama Rao (KTR) asserted that “there will be no alliance with the BJP”, referring to the 2028 Telangana Assembly elections.
According to a press release issued by the party, KTR on Wednesday delivered a Distinguished Public Lecture at OP Jindal Global University on “Innovation in Governance: The Story of a Startup State,” where he interacted with students and responded to questions on a range of political, governance and technology-related issues.
Responding to a question on whether the BRS could align with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2028 Telangana Assembly elections, KTR said, “There will be no alliance with the BJP.”
On the issue of delimitation, KTR said the BRS would have no objection to supporting a delimitation bill if the overall increase in Lok Sabha seats is carried out proportionately. “Southern states account for 24% of the representation in Lok Sabha. If there is an overall increase in the number of seats proportionately, then we will have no problem supporting the delimitation bill,” he said.
Answering a question on artificial intelligence and technological change, KTR said apprehensions have accompanied every major technological transition. “Every change in technology was questioned, same as AI. We need to adopt it and move on,” he said.
In his lecture, KTR spoke about Telangana’s development journey and presented the State’s experience through the twin concepts of “certainty and possibility.” He said governance should create certainty through basic infrastructure and reliable public services while simultaneously building ecosystems that enable innovation, entrepreneurship and new opportunities
KTR highlighted Telangana’s initiatives in irrigation, agriculture, drinking water and power. Speaking about the Kaleshwaram Project, he described it as an engineering response to the historical challenge of taking Godavari water to drought-prone regions of Telangana. He also referred to the rise in rice production from about 44.4 lakh tonnes in 2014–15 to 168.8 lakh tonnes in 2023–24.
He also outlined Telangana’s innovation ecosystem, referring to T-Hub, WE-Hub, T-Works and TASK and their roles in entrepreneurship, women-led enterprises, prototyping, hardware innovation and connecting young talent with industry. He cited Skyroot as an example of the ecosystem supporting the journey from incubation and prototyping to a market-ready company. He urged students and young people to approach constraints as design problems and focus on learning, iteration and execution.
The lecture was followed by an interactive question-and-answer session with students, who posed questions on politics, public policy, delimitation and emerging technologies. KTR’s responses drew applause from the audience.
He concluded by thanking OP Jindal Global University for the opportunity to share Telangana’s development journey and interact with its students and faculty. (ANI)