SNCN ACHARYULU
Hyderabad
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is now promoting the Bharat Rashtra Samiti at the national level using the strategy he had adopted during the Telangana statehood movement to bring pressure on the Union government. During the T movement, KCR had invited several national leaders who he knew were backing his struggle.
It helped KCR in tackling the central government in Parliament and bringing pressure on it to take a decision in favour of creating a separate Telangana State. The opposition leaders were approached then in connection with the Telangana movement in Parliament.
During the peak of T movement, KCR had conducted several public meetings that were attended by certain national leaders. However, post creation of Telangana State, after the Telangana Rashtra Samiti assumed power, KCR never invited any national leader for party meetings. Over the last decade, KCR has held party meetings, including plenary. Yet, KCR had never invited any national leaders to attend those meetings.
After declaring a political war against the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is leading the dispensation at the Centre, KCR met several national leaders, including Chief Ministers, to enlist their support for fighting against BJP. In the process, he changed the name of TRS to BRS and expanded its footprint as a national party. Several opposition leaders have come forward to support KCR’s BRS.
The BRS’ Khammam public meeting is somewhat special. For the first time after he came to power, he has invited several opposition leaders, including the Chief Ministers of Delhi, Punjab and Kerala, apart from opposition leaders.
On hindsight, KCR feels that inviting opposition leaders during the statehood movement had helped him in achieving his goal. Similarly, inviting opposition leaders now might help him in preventing the Bharatiya Janata Party from coming to power in the next Lok Sabha elections. A senior BRS leader commented that KCR knew well when to utilise the support of opposition leaders to achieve his goal. At present, KCR’s target is to prevent the BJP from coming to power in the next General Election at any cost.
During the T movement, KCR had organised several public meetings under banners like Garjana, Maha Gargana and Simha Garjana, which were attended by national leaders like Sharad Pawar, Ajit Singh, Deve Gowda, Sibu Soren, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as well as other leaders like Arvind Kejriwal and Ramdas Athawale.
