HyderabadOctober 28, 2025 03:51 PM IST
First published on: Oct 28, 2025 at 03:51 PM IST
Ahead of the crucial Jubilee Hills bypoll and close on the heels of a high-profile exit, the K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is faced with another issue – drastic drop in donations.
According to the BRS’s annual submission of audited accounts for the 2024-2025 fiscal submitted to the Election Commission (EC) on October 10, the party has got donations worth only Rs 15 crore, a steep fall from the Rs 580.52 crore (Rs 85 crore through trust funds and Rs 495.52 through electoral bonds) it received in the 2023-2024 fiscal.
The electoral bonds scheme has since been scrapped by the Supreme Court.
The Progressive Electoral Trust was the BRS’s biggest donor with Rs 10 crore followed by the Prudent Electoral Trust with Rs 5 crore. Additionally, S Rajender Reddy of Mahabubnagar donated Rs 9.79 lakh while Mohd Azhar of Hyderabad gave the party Rs 29,115, bringing the total to Rs 15.09 crore.
Admitting that the party’s funds have been on the decline, a party leader told The Indian Express: “The BRS and YRS Congress Party (in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh) were once ranked the best in terms of raking in donations. However, now the BRS’s finances are not sound. Many donors fear that public donations to the BRS under the Congress government would harm their interests.”
The Congress, however, claims it has nothing to do with the drop in the BRS’s funds. “These are ridiculous claims. How can the Congress or the Telangana government pressure anyone into donating or not to a party? It is up to an individual to make the decision. Their electoral decline is making them say all this. The Congress in Telangana is only focused on the welfare of the state and its people,” said Shivanth Reddy, general secretary of the Telangana Youth Congress.
As per Rule 85 S of the Conduct of Elections Rules of 1961, all political parties are required to submit their accounts annually to the EC.
In the 2022-23 fiscal, the BRS had raked in Rs 154.03 crore in donations, while the numbers for the 2021-22 and 2020-21 fiscals stood at Rs 40.9 crore and 4.15 crore respectively.
The drop in donations is also likely to show its political effect. “If the trend continues, the BRS may land in trouble. As of now, we are relying on the funds which have accumulated over time,” a BRS leader said.
Apart from the fund crunch, the party is also faced with a leadership vacuum as Rao has limited his public appearances leaving partymen wondering how the next rung of leadership, including party working president K T Rama Rao and former minister T Harish Rao will deal with the issue.
Recently, the party was hit by the exit of MLC K Kavitha, who quit the party while accusing its leadership of holding back-channel merger talks with the BJP. “Kavitha had clearly said that she was approached with a proposal to merge with the BJP. The BRS leadership seems to be keen on this even now,” a source within the BRS said.