Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Friday, 9 December, exuded confidence that the pink flag of the party would fly on the top of Red Fort in Delhi after the next general elections in 2024.
“Abki baar kisan sarkar. This will be the slogan of the BRS,” he said after signing papers, sent by the Election Commission India (ECI), at Telangana Bhavan at 1.20 pm on Friday seeking the party’s endorsement for the change of its name to the BRS from the TRS. The papers were sent back to the ECI.
The chief minister, addressing party workers, said that the party office for the BRS in Delhi would be inaugurated at a temporary building on 14 December. The permanent building would be ready in about four months.
He said that, to begin with, “We will campaign in the Karnataka Assembly elections on behalf of the BRS.” He wished that JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy would become the chief minister of Karnataka once again.
KCR said the purpose of the birth of the BRS was to usher in a change in the way the nation is ruled.
“In any election, it is the people who should win,” he said, implying that those who cared for people and their interests should be elected.
“The nation was in need of a new direction. We need a policy for the empowerment of women. The next inline is the farmers’ government at the centre,” he said.
BRS to formulate farmer-friendly policies
The BRS president said that very soon the party would come out with a clear policy that would include what it proposed to do with the agriculture sector and the provision of irrigation facilities for the parched lands.
After the chief minister signed the papers, the party workers went into raptures outside Telangana Bhavan, bursting crackers and dancing with joy.
బీఆర్ఎస్ పార్టీ ఆవిర్భావం అనంతరం తెలంగాణ భవన్ లో పార్టీ నాయకులను ఉద్దేశించి మాట్లాడిన పార్టీ అధ్యక్షులు, ముఖ్యమంత్రి శ్రీ కేసీఆర్ https://t.co/RlHEo3yZVE
— TRS Party (@trspartyonline) December 9, 2022
The occasion marked a watershed in the 21 long years of the TRS’ journey, which had its highs and lows.
KCR took his first resolute step towards rebranding the TRS into the BRS on 5 October when he sent the resolution of the party to this effect to the ECI.
BRS to retain election symbol
For BRS, which would retain its car symbol, to get recognition as a national party, it will have to get 2 percent of the seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three states or it has to get 6 percent of votes in Assembly or Lok Sabha elections in at least four states, in addition to winning four Lok Sabha seats in any state, or recognition as a state party in four or more states.
Till then, the BRS will be the new name of the TRS. But TRS, which symbolised the Telangana movement and the aspirations of the people, would cease to represent its zeitgeist.
Anyway, a lot of water has flowed down the Musi river since the formation of the Telangana state in 2014.
The movement and the sacrifices made for achieving the state are only a distant memory now. The forward-looking BRS is hoping to rise to the national level.
KCR on Friday arrived at the Telangana Bhavan at about 1.20 pm, which is an auspicious moment, and signed the papers.
Later, he hoisted the new flag of the BRS after donning the BRS-branded upper cloth (kanduva), and offered them to colleagues who were around him.
Karnataka to be the testing ground?
Former Karnataka chief minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, and the BJP’s strident critic and film actor Prakash Raj were with KCR when he signed the papers sent by the Election Commission.
The word that is going around is that the BRS would fight its first election in Karnataka, where polls are due in the middle of next year.
The TRS acquired the new plumes at a time when its rival BJP is becoming stronger by the day.
Also read: Naming TRS to BRS a game or a game changer?
The fact that the BJP won the Assembly elections for the seventh time in Gujarat proved that Narendra Modi’s magic still works, and that neither he nor his party seem to be carrying much anti-incumbency baggage.
The first litmus test for KCR would be to win the Telangana Assembly elections for the third time in December of next year for other Opposition parties to take him seriously at the national level.
Finally, it is all math that decides who should rule the country and it remains to be seen where KCR stands in this maze.
