BRS on an arduous quest to rope in leader with mass appeal in Maharashtra Premium

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is facing difficulties in expanding its footprint in Maharashtra as it is yet to get a leader of mass appeal to steer the party in the already crowded political space of the western State

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), led by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, is facing difficulties in expanding its footprint in Maharashtra as it is yet to get a leader of mass appeal to steer the party in the already crowded political space of the western State.

The party has held three impressive public meetings — the first rally in Nanded on February 5, another at Kandhar-Loha in Nanded on March 26, and the latest one in Aurangabad on April 24. It set out to appeal to the farming community with its slogan ‘Ab Ki Baar, Kisan Sarkar’, but could not make much of an impact as could be seen from the party’s performance in the elections to the posts of directors of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee in Nanded district. The Maha Vikas Aghadi bagged a lion’s share of seats in the elections with the Shinde-Fadnavis alliance emerging a distant second.

Also read: Looking to gain a toehold outside Telangana

Though some leaders, including former MLAs, former MPs and those who contested and lost elections, have joined the BRS in Maharashtra, there is not a single leader with a long-standing political record who has entered the party fold.

Mr. Rao has been looking for a farmers’ leader to be the face of his party here. However, several leaders he or his party has approached have turned down the offer. This has made it difficult for the party to find a suitable candidate for the post.

A few months ago, Mr. Rao met Devappa Anna Shetty alias Raju Shetty, a popular farmers’ rights activist, two-time MP and president of Swabhimani Paksha, the political wing of farmers’ outfit Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, and asked him to be the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate in Maharashtra, but he declined the offer “humbly”.

The BRS supremo also tried to rope in Yuvraj Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, scion of the Kolhapur royal family and descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, for an alliance.