While exuding confidence that the BRS would romp home in the Assembly elections later this year, party supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, however, warned some leaders that they would not get party tickets if they did not mend their ways.
The warning came in the wake of allegations that they were demanding a cut in Dalit Bandhu subsidies being released to beneficiaries in several constituencies.
The chief minister was addressing the party’s first foundation day meeting on Thursday, 27 April, after the TRS became the BRS last year.
He minced no words about some of the leaders breaking party discipline in the process of ensuring that the fruits of the welfare schemes reached the targeted beneficiaries.
According to sources, the chief minister said that he was taking a serious look at some of the legislators, and there would be no future for them at all unless they made a course correction.
“The practice of seeking a cut in subsidies is very obnoxious and cannot be condoned,” the chief minister is learnt to have said.
KCR apparently sounded very serious as he believed it was more than likely that the Election Commission would advance the Assembly elections by a month.
The last elections were held in December 2018.
If the poll body wanted to advance them, it would be held in the first week of November. Hence, the need for party workers to be battle-ready as early as possible.
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Call for contact programmes
The chief minister said that winning the election was no big deal, but what mattered most was how many more seats the party would clinch.
“In the first election in 2014 after the formation of Telangana, we won 63 seats. In 2018, the number went up to 88. This time around, it should be more than 100 seats,” he said.
The Telangana Legislative Assembly has a total of 119 seats.
The chief minister said that it was equally important that leaders walk the extra mile to dispel any feeling of discontent among the workers and make them face elections with redoubled vigour.
“Elections should be not by chance but by choice. We should eschew the habit of digging a well only when we get thirsty,” he said.
KCR also asked the party cadres to extensively take the message of the party to the people.
“If necessary, we will release TV ads and make films to provide more visibility to the schemes that we are implementing in the state. There is also a possibility of the BRS starting a TV channel,” he said.
The chief minister reiterated that the BRS was moving forward with the slogan “Ab ki Bar Kisan Sarkar” in the country.
“The inspiration for our journey is the success we have attained in achieving a separate state through democratic means,” he said.
బీఆర్ఎస్ అధినేత, ముఖ్యమంత్రి కేసీఆర్ గారి అధ్యక్షతన తెలంగాణ భవన్లో బీఆర్ఎస్ ప్రతినిధుల సభ కొనసాగుతున్నది
బీఆర్ఎస్ పార్లమెంటరీ పార్టీ నేత, రాజ్యసభ సభ్యులు కే కేశవ రావు గారి ప్రసంగంతో ప్రారంభమైన బీఆర్ఎస్ ప్రతినిధుల సభ. అనంతరం బీఆర్ఎస్ అధినేత, సీఎం కేసీఆర్ గారు ప్రసంగించారు. pic.twitter.com/7HyEijlIAp
— BRS Party (@BRSparty) April 27, 2023
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Govt to procure damaged crops
Referring to his foray into neighbouring Maharashtra, KCR said that he came to know that the number of suicides by farmers there was quite high there.
“The Maharashtra government keeps saying that if it implements the schemes that are in force in Telangana, it will go bankrupt. But we have not gone bankrupt, which only proves that the neighbouring state has no vision,” he said at the party meeting.
He also said the leaders and workers should be very sensitive to the needs and requirements of the people.
When they are in difficulties, the party should immediately swing into action and try to provide some succour to them.
“We have to mix with people with schemes like Palle Nidra,” he said, pointing out that initiatives of this nature would greatly help in communicating with people more effectively.
Referring to unseasonal rains that had wrought havoc on standing crops and harvested paddy at the procurement centres, the chief minister said that enough care should be taken to ensure that the pain of the farmers was reduced to the minimum.
In future, the Agriculture Department should sensitise farmers to go in for crops a little early in the agricultural year so that they can escape the vagaries of nature, like the hailstorms that hit the state recently.
He assured farmers that there was no room for doubt about the procurement of damaged paddy or other crops.
“Like in the past, the government will procure all the crops regardless of their condition. We will buy jowar and maize as well,” he said.
He asked the party leaders to identify lands in the villages that were not serving a purpose and submit a report to the government so that these lands could be distributed to the homeless poor.
