Till now BRS was sending out mixed signals, KTR on 31 July, said that the BRS would play a key role in the next government at the centre.
Published Aug 02, 2023 | 2:17 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 02, 2023 | 2:17 PM
BRS neither with NDA or INDIA says KCR. (BRSParty/ Twitter)
It is now official. Clearing doubts on whose side the BRS is — or is not — party chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has said in unambiguous terms: “We are neither with INDIA nor with NDA.”
Speaking to journalists at Kolhapur before leaving for Hyderabad on Tuesday, 1 August, he said: “We will not be on the side of either group. We have our own friends.”
Till now the BRS has been sending out mixed signals on where it stands vis-a-vis the two alliances.
The party has, nevertheless, been saying that it would play a role in the formation of the next Union government, but would not go beyond to explain how.
On 19 July, the party was not invited either to the meeting of the 26-party Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in Bengaluru, nor the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) gathering in New Delhi.
It was IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao — also the working president of BRS — who said, while briefing the media about the state Cabinet’s decisions on Monday, that the BRS would play a key role in the next government at the Centre.
He made the comment while contending that there would be no problem in getting the Union government to help the state with the funding required for its ambitious ₹60,000 crore metro-rail project, which it is contemplating to implement to improve connectivity across Hyderabad.
However, KTR, too, did not elaborate on how this would be achieved.
Now that KCR had cleared the air, it remains to be seen whether the BRS will add to the political kaleidoscope in the run-up to next year’s Lok Sabha election by leading another Opposition front.
Already, the Opposition parties that are part of INDIA have branded the BRS as the BJP’s “B-team”. Several non-BJP leaders in Maharashtra have contended that KCR’s intent in spreading his party’s activities in their state was to help the BJP on the day of reckoning.
Recently, BRS leader and former MP B Vinod said that the “so-called” Opposition would know the real strength of the BRS after the Telangana Assembly elections due in December this year. He was reacting to the Opposition parties not inviting BRS to their conclave in Bengaluru.
At Kolhapur, after paying tributes to social reformer and Dalit leader Anna Bhau Sathe, KCR said that for over 50 years Congress was in power, but there was no qualitative change, adding that the nation was now ready to embrace change for the better.
He said the BRS was fast spreading in Maharashtra and that committees had been constituted at various levels. “We have already sounded the election bugle in Maharashtra,” KCR said.
The Telangana chief minister said that in all the 288 Assembly constituencies in the state, the BRS has 14.1 lakh workers deployed. He said he will work on constituting committees at the village level in about 20-25 days.
He said that Maharashtra is a great state which is richly endowed with natural resources. “There is no dearth of wealth in Maharashtra. There is an immense scope of employment. Why should there be difficulty in drinking water in a city like Aurangabad?” he asked.
Referring to the plight of Dalits, he wondered how long they should continue to suffer in silence in the face of exploitation. In Maharashtra, Dalits are neglected. They are not getting the attention they deserve. In the US, the whites atoned for their sin of exploiting the blacks by electing Obama a black to the highest office of president.
Meanwhile, Telangana BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao hit out at KCR for visiting Maharashtra “on a political tour” at a time when many people in the state were suffering due to the recent heavy rains and flooding.
Speaking to reporters in Hyderabad, the BJP MLA said he expected the chief minister to visit the villages hit by heavy rains and flooding but, instead, the latter chose to travel to Maharashtra.
“It is unfortunate that he (KCR) takes up the programme of expanding the party in neighbouring states at a time when people are faced with flooding,” he said.
He said the BJP would try to “corner” the BRS government over the damage caused by the downpour and flooding, the leakage of state Public Service Commission recruitment test papers and every other public issue in the legislature session beginning 3 August.
Referring to the state government announcing the plan to expand the Metro rail in Hyderabad with ₹60,000 crore in the next three-four years, Raghunandan Rao pointed out that the BRS government has not completed the stretch of just 5.5 km in the old city of Hyderabad from 2014 to 2023.
He claimed that work has not started in the second phase of the metro rail of 67.5 km in Hyderabad.
(With PTI inputs)
