BRS bolstered as Maharashtra leaders, activists join KCR’s national party in Nanded

NANDED: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) received a shot in the arm with the induction of leaders of several political parties from Maharashtra during the party’s historic public meeting in Nanded on Sunday. BRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) formally welcomed the leaders into his party’s fold by putting the pink scarves of the BRS around their neck at the public meeting venue.

Maratha leaders at various levels of parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Congress were among those who formally joined the BRS on this occasion. The leaders and intellectuals who joined the BRS were Mohah Patwari, Prakash Rao Pore, Jnanesh Swakurkar, Santosh Gawani, Deepakram, Sanjay Ji Chowdike, Sunitha Thai, Banduji Alam, Lakshman Ji Gowde, Bhavani Thai, Mallikharjun Akula, Manda Shankar, Janaki Srinu, Sankar Kaka Dasarwar, Pandarinath Pawar and Dastagiri Pathan.

The BRS, ever since it was announced as a national party a few weeks before, has been grabbing the attention at the national level amid expectations that it would offer a formidable political alternative to the country.

KCR, who arrived at the public meeting venue was greeted with rapturous applause and cheers from the large crowd who attended the event. KCR then paid his tributes to Chatrapati Shivaji, Dr Babasahed Ambedkar and Mahatma Jyothirao Phule by garlanding their statues on the public meeting venue.

The party had already seen a few prominent leaders from Odisha and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh joining its fold. Former Odisha Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang, along with a host of leaders from the state, has recently been inducted into the BRS at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad. A few days before that, a few Jana Sena leaders including former IAS officer Thota Chandrasekhar switched their loyalties to the BRS. Subsequently, KCR has appointed Thota Chandrasekhar as the party’s Andhra Pradesh unit President amid signs of an enthusiastic and positive reception in the state for its national endeavour.

The BRS has already been strengthened by its alliance with HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka. Kumaraswamy, looking for the revival of JD(S) in Karnataka, and KCR have already announced that they would fight in an alliance in the forthcoming elections to the Kannada state.

A large number of activists and leaders from the border regions of Maharashtra including Nanded are expected to head towards the BRS in the coming days. The Telangana model of governance and welfare, being implemented by the KCR government, has captured the imagination of the people of these border regions. There have been demands from the people of some pockets of the border regions of Maharasthra and Karnataka for the emulation of similar schemes in their states.