With Bharat Rashtra Samithi, KCR sets his sights on national ambitions

The decision to take his party national is premised on the support for his pro-farmer initiatives.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao authorising the change of name of his party to Bharat Rashtra Samithi in the presence of H.D. Kumaraswamy (JD-S) and Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK), in Hyderabad on October 5. | Photo Credit: PTI

The decision of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to expand his Telangana Rashtra Samithi into a national-level political party and renaming it Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), is not an overnight one, at least for those who have followed his moves for more than a year now. The TRS was formed in 2001 with the single-point agenda of achieving statehood for Telangana, one of the three main regions of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

The intention to form the BRS has been all the more visible, particularly after his relations with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre soured and the saffron party is looking to grow on its own in the State.

The TRS’ loss to the BJP in the Huzurabad Assembly by-election in November 2021 was perhaps the point when Rao, decided to take the bull by its horns despite the fact that his was only a regional party, and it would be a long and arduous political journey to have a presence at the national level let alone make an impact.

Rao put his faith in the work his government has done among farmers: 24×7 free power supply for agricultural pump sets, investment support of Rs. 5,000 an acre to farmers for two crop seasons in a year under the ‘Rythu Bandhu’ scheme, life insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh to all landholding farmers aged between 18 and 59 under the ‘Rythu Bima’ scheme, and increased irrigation facilities. His attempts to reach out to farmers across the country also played a role in his decision.

Building support

Rao also visited other States and met politicians heading regional parties, among them Mamata Banerjee, M.K. Stalin, Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Uddhav Thackeray, Hemant Soren, Bhagwant Mann, and Tejashwi Yadav, and national-level leaders such as Sharad Pawar, H.D. Deve Gowda, and Lalu Prasad.

However, a majority of them were of the view that only a national-level front that includes the Congress can take on the BJP. This was a virtual non-starter for Rao because, as he saw it, teaming up with the Congress at the national level was bound to have an impact on his party’s electoral prospects in Telangana where the Congress is the main opposition.

Rao could convince only two regional parties, Janata Dal (Secular) from Karnataka and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) from Tamil Nadu, about his plan. As a result, only H.D. Kumaraswamy (JD-S) and Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK), besides leaders of a few farmers’ organisations turned up for the launch of the BRS in Hyderabad on October 5, Dasara.

TRS leader Rajanala Srihari distributing liquor and chicken to local people in Warangal on October 4, a day before TRS was rechristened to BRS and the decision to foray into national politics was announced. | Photo Credit: PTI

Both Kumaraswamy and Thirumavalavan welcomed Rao’s decision to launch the BRS and go national, and said that there was a need for such voices to take on the BJP. The Left parties have extended their support to Rao in the by-election to the Munugode Assembly seat on November 3, the first electoral contest for the BRS. They have reservations about sailing with the BRS at the national level as they believe that only a front that includes the Congress can take on the BJP at the Centre.

Rao announced an ex-gratia payment of ₹3 lakh each to the kin of about 750 farmers who died during the prolonged agitation in 2020-21 against the three now-repealed farm laws brought by the Centre and personally distributed cheques to some of the kin in Chandigarh, Ranchi, and Patna. He also announced Rs.10 lakh ex-gratia to the kin of each Indian soldier who died in the clashes with the Chinese at Galwan Valley and handed over cheques to some of the kin.

Sources in the BRS said that the support of farmers and other sections to the Telangana government’s welfare schemes in the border areas in Maharashtra and Karnataka may also have emboldened Rao to test the waters outside Telangana. That was perhaps why he announced on October 5 that the areas of Maharashtra that formed a part of the erstwhile Hyderabad State would be the testing ground for BRS. In some border villages in Maharashtra, local leaders were apparently all praise for the BRS government’s schemes, and in the border areas of Karnataka there was good support for the Rythu Bandhu scheme in particular. A BJP MLA apparently even demanded Telangana-like schemes in Karnataka.

Rao stated in the Assembly during the last monsoon session that several Maharashtra farmers in villages bordering Telangana had bought small plots of land on the Telangana side, sunk borewells or dug open wells to take the benefit of 24×7 free power supply for agricultural pump sets, and installed pipes for a length of a few hundred metres to irrigate land on the Maharashtra side.

“Officials have brought the matter to our notice and proposed acting against such farmers. But, I have instructed them not to do so on the grounds that they were small farmers and eke out a living on farming, although they may not belong to Telangana,” Rao said in the Assembly.

There are two strands of thought on the issue of expanding the footprints of the party. One, by his political detractors, is that any attempt to politically venture out of Telangana is bound to fail. While the other, from within the BRS, is that when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) can do it, why can’t the BRS?

“We (our party) have every trait to go national and the wide support for our farmer-oriented and Dalit Bandhu schemes provide us a platform for acceptance outside Telangana. Although we have a farmer-centric agenda to begin with, our ideology, philosophy, broader agenda and policies will be more pronounced in the coming days”, said B. Vinod Kumar, Vice-Chairman of the State Planning Board and a part of the BRS think tank.

Speaking to media persons recently, K.T. Rama Rao, working president of the BRS and a Minister in the Rao Cabinet, said: “We are well aware of the challenges ahead and also of the fact that we and our supporters will be hounded by the ‘hunting dogs’ of the BJP. But we are determined to take on the forces that have become inimical to the federal structure of the country.”

Gimmick, says opposition

The Congress and the BJP have dubbed Rao’s decision as one of his political gimmicks to stave off the increasing anti-incumbency factor in the State and an attempt to divert people’s attention from more pressing issues such as unemployment. Pradesh Congress Committee president A. Revanth Reddy said the time had come for the BRS to pack up in Telangana and the way out chosen by its leadership was to go national. BJP State president Bandi Sanjay said Rao wanted to address problems being faced by the country when he failed to resolve the issues faced by the State.

Since the TRS has formally requested the Election Commission for its name change as BRS, it may happen in the next few weeks after necessary procedures. But, becoming a national party by winning electoral support in other States is a long road ahead for the BRS leadership. The immediate challenge is for it to win the Munugode Assembly by-election and demonstrate that it is ready to take on the BJP and the Congress.

Rao’s oratory skills, which came in handy during the statehood agitation, and his command over Hindi can prove to be advantageous in striking a chord with the northern masses when compared with other leaders from the south.

His equations with other party leaders during his stint as as a Union Minister during the UPA-I government and the wide-ranging consultations with regional leaders during the statehood agitation could work to his advantage, but that would depend on how those leaders react to the BRS.

The Crux

• Since the TRS has formally requested the EC for its name change as BRS, it may happen in the next few weeks.
• The support of farmers to the Telangana government’s welfare schemes may also have emboldened Rao to test the waters outside the state.
• Rao could convince only two regional parties, Janata Dal (Secular) from Karnataka and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) from Tamil Nadu, about his national plan.
• The immediate challenge for the party is to win the Munugode Assembly by-election.