Hyderabad, April 27 : Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K. T. Rama Rao on Monday called upon party cadres to take a pledge on the partyâ??s Foundation Day to protect Telangana, alleging that the state is facing destruction under the Congress regime.

â??On the Party's foundation day, let us pledge once again. To protect Telangana, let us rise once more and stand united in millions,â?? KTR posted on â??Xâ??.

The former minister urged the party cadres to rededicate themselves to the reconstruction of Telangana on the occasion of its 26th Foundation Day.

KTR stated that as the party was born out of a movement, BRS forced Delhi to achieve the goal of a separate state. He also claimed that as the ruling party for a decade, it steered Telangana on the path of progress.

â??Today, as the main opposition party, we are standing firm for the cause of millions of people, sounding the war trumpet against the inept government and standing tall as the voice of Telangana,â?? he wrote.

KTR termed BRS a symbol of its unbreakable bond with the people and described the pink flag as representing Telanganaâ??s self-respecting political identity.

KTR said that the journey of the party for two-and-a-half decades under K. Chandrasekhar Rao was marked by historic struggles and achievements.

Earlier in the day, he hoisted the party flag at the BRS headquarters, Telangana Bhavan, to mark the Foundation Day, with several party leaders participating in the celebrations.

He declined to comment on certain remarks made by his sister K. Kavitha, who floated a new political party called Telangana Rashtra Sena (TRS) on April 25. Kavitha, who had quit BRS last year after being suspended by his father and the party president K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), had criticised both KCR and KTR.

Kavitha had called KCR a changed man and also remarked that KTR knows nothing.

BRS organised the formation day celebrations across the state. KTR had called upon the party cadres to hoist party flags in every village, town, constituency, and district headquarters to mark the day.

KTR, during a teleconference with party leaders on Sunday, explained that, in light of the massive public meeting recently held in Jagtial -- and keeping the current intense summer heat in mind -- the plenary session has been limited to a State Executive Committee meeting this time.

The invitations for this meeting have been extended exclusively to State Executive Committee members, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, district presidents, former public representatives, and former chairpersons of various corporations.

KCR had floated Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in 2001 to revive the Telangana movement. The separate state became a reality on June 2, 2014. In 2022, TRS changed its name to BRS, with KCR planning to expand the party to other states.

However, after ruling Telangana for nearly a decade, the BRS lost power to Congress in Telangana in 2023. The party suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well, drawing a blank, its worst-ever performance.

/IANS