In pursuit of a toehold outside Telangana

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi is trying to expand its presence, but this promises to be a daunting task

Ever since the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) changed its name to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in an effort to shed its provincial character and chase national ambitions, its leadership has made no efforts to make a mark outside Telangana except in Maharashtra. It has also made some effort in Andhra Pradesh, a State against which the BRS leadership made unsavoury remarks during the movement to grant Telangana statehood.

With its slogan ‘Ab Ki Baar, Kisan Sarkar (this is the time for farmers’ rule)‘, the BRS leadership has decided to appeal primarily to the farming community in Maharashtra. It has held rallies in Nanded, Kandhar-Loha and Aurangabad to cement its image as a pro-farmer, pro-poor, and pro-Dalit political outfit. These rallies received an encouraging response, even if the crowds were mobilised, as is the norm for political rallies these days.

BRS sources said that the party is determined to first enter Maharashtra and garner support from the farming community, followed by women, Dalits and minorities, by explaining the welfare and development programmes that have been initiated for these sections in Telangana. The party has deployed publicity vehicles fitted with large LED screens in these areas, which play films on the benefits being enjoyed by these sections of society in Telangana.

The BRS is focused on the farming community as it believes that farmers are more organised best in Maharashtra compared to Telangana’s other neighbouring States. It was in Maharashtra where the Shetkari Sanghatana was formed by the legendary farmers’ activist Sharad Joshi. The BRS leadership is busy roping in leaders associated with the Shetkari Sanghatana as well as popular leaders including former MLAs, former MPs and those who received sizeable support of the electorate in the last Assembly elections.

More than a dozen former MLAs, including a couple who worked as Ministers in the past, have formally joined the BRS so far. Leaders from the Panchayat Samiti level, including from the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena, the Congress and a few from the BJP, have joined the BRS and are working in their areas to mobilise support for the new entrant into the State. BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is said to be planning his fourth public meeting at Chandrapur soon, followed by one in the Konkan region and one at Thane outside Mumbai. The party, said a senior BRS leader, plans to contest the rural local bodies elections in these places.

The BRS leadership is planning to test its prospects in the elections to 25 Zilla Parishads and 284 Panchayat Samitis, which are due any time in Maharashtra. Party sources said the BRS did not enter the fray in the Karnataka Assembly elections as it did not want to split the anti-BJP vote. The BJP is the primary opponent of the BRS and even a couple of thousands of votes could make a huge difference in the three-cornered contest in the State, they reasoned.

The BRS also plans to open permanent offices in Nagpur and Aurangabad, form party committees at the village level from May 7 to June 7, and organise a massive farmers’ rally before it gets down to serious campaigning in Telangana, where it aims to win Assembly elections for a third time in a row. To do this, it needs to weather the anti-incumbency that generally sets in when a party is in power for this long.