BRS to woo people of Maharashtra with Telangana’s flagship schemes

BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao explains the flagship programmes in Telangana during a training programme for the party workers in Maharashtra

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which has chosen Maharashtra as the first stop for its expansion plans with the slogan of ‘ab ki baar, kisan sarkar’, has made its intent clear of creating a support base by wooing people with its flagship programmes being implemented in Telangana.

It has also decided to adopt technology and social media platforms to make its presence felt along with use of traditional channels of spreading information. Party president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced at the inaugural session of the two-day party training programme at Nanded on Friday that functionaries picked up for the exercise of building organisation would be given tabs (electronic gadgets).

They were given training in the post-lunch session on using the gadgets for enrolment of membership along with their photo, contact number and address as also formation of committees from the village-level. He stated that nine panels would be formed in every village — party, farmers, youth, women, student, OBC, SC, ST and minorities — with members ranging from 6 to 24 in each committee based on the population of a particular village.

The party has also roped in Jayant Deshmukh, who till recently was the in-charge of social media wing of Aam Admi Party in Maharashtra, to give BRS the social media push there. The functionaries drafted for membership drive and forming committees would be provided vehicles and material such as party scarves, party flags, caps with party slogan, posters, pamphlets, sticker, bunting flags, pen drives with audio songs and public address systems to be fitted to vehicles.

Every team of functionaries drafted for the exercise is told to cover five villages a day by spending 60 to 90 minutes in every village. Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao stated that the material had either reached all the 288 Assembly constituencies already or would be reaching in a day.

“Building mass-contact holds key for our patronage and success as we are not a very rich party like several others in the country. We don’t believe in bribing voters and buying leaders for our growth as we build leaders from within,” Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said in his 70-minute speech to the delegates.

Harping on the flagship schemes and their delivery system in Telangana he said: “There’s need of daftar (visiting an office), darkhwast (making an application) or dalal (approaching a middleman to pursue for sanction) to avail the schemes such as Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, Dalit Bandhu and many others.” The benefit would reach the bank accounts of the beneficiaries without any need for legwork by the latter, he said explaining how they are being implemented.