Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s visit to Maharashtra’s pilgrimage town of Pandharpur on Tuesday drew a sharp reaction from Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, who called the former’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) a B-team of the BJP.
Addressing a rally in Sarkoli village, some 20 km from Pandharpur, Rao countered the charge asserting that they are a team of farmers, marginalised communities, minorities and Dalits and wondered why there is a “hue and cry” over his party’s efforts to expand its base in the neighbouring state.
Rao, popularly known as KCR, and his cabinet colleagues arrived in Pandharpur on Monday in a motorcade of 600 vehicles. He offered prayers at the Vitthal Rukmini temple in the town on Tuesday, ahead of the Ashadhi Ekadashi festival on June 29.
Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Raut said the BRS has no intentions in Maharashtra other than trying to hurt the prospects of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, and divide votes.
“He has never visited Pandharpur in the last eight-nine years as chief minister or when he was a minister in Andhra Pradesh and a minister at the Centre,” Raut said.
To whom KCR is trying to show the strength, Raut asked.
“KCR is a personal friend, but he has to decide against whom we are fighting,” Raut said, adding that there will be no impact of BRS on Maharashtra politics and the move will only hurt KCR in Telangana.
About his Pandharpur visit, Rao said at the rally that when they planned to offer prayers at the temple, they were advised to avoid doing politics.
“I refrained from discussing politics in Pandharpur. However, here I will talk about it. I fail to understand why there is such a hue and cry among the parties in Maharashtra about us. Why do they fear us, as no party is wasting any opportunity to criticise us," he said.
Rao slammed what he called the tendency to label BRS as a B-team of other parties.
“Congress calls us the B-team of BJP, while BJP calls us the A-team of Congress. We are not anyone’s team. We are a team of farmers, marginalised communities, minorities, and Dalits,” he asserted.
He also emphasised that BRS is not just a regional party tied to Telangana, but a national party with a mission to bring about a change in India.
Rao said that every major party in Maharashtra has had the opportunity to govern the state.
“The Congress ruled (Maharashtra) for 50 years. You gave chances to NCP, BJP, and Shiv Sena. If they genuinely wanted to work for the state’s welfare, at least one of them could have done so,” he said.
The BRS chief said that the schemes successfully rolled out in Telangana can be easily implemented in Maharashtra. He questioned why Maharashtra couldn’t replicate the farmer-centric welfare programmes implemented by Telangana.
Rao said claims are being made that whatever is being shown in Telangana is a ‘bhul bhulaiya’ (maze) and if Maharashtra implements such schemes, the state will go bankrupt ("diwala").
“I would like to assert here that yes, there will be `diwala', and it will be of political leaders. But there will be Diwali (prosperity) for farmers,” he said.
At the event in Sarkoli village, NCP leader Bhagirath Bhelke joined the BRS. He is the son of the late Bharat Bhelke, a former NCP legislator from the Pandharpur Assembly seat.
In the bypoll that took place in 2021 after his father’s death, the NCP fielded Bhagirath as its candidate but the seat was won by the BJP’s Samadhan Autade.
Rao last month announced a month-long programme to expand BRS' network in over 45,000 villages and urban civic bodies in Maharashtra.
At the rally, Rao said the BRS was the only party that came up with the slogan 'Abki Baar Kisan Sarkar' (this time farmers' government). "Now that farmers are associating themselves with the BRS, they (opponents) are scared, and that is why they are making any statements," he said.
"Change is the only solution to the issues plaguing India," the Telangana chief minister added.
If there is a proper water policy at the national level, every acre of land in the country can come under irrigation, he said.
"The entire water-related policy should be thrown into the Bay of Bengal and a new policy should be framed. Then a change will take place. Despite the water availability, we are deprived of water," Rao said.
If the power generated by hydroelectric, solar and thermal projects is distributed with proper balance, all the villages, cities and small and big industries will get adequate electricity supply, he claimed.
He also asked why the country needs to import coal from Australia when the coal reserves available in the country can last for 150 years.
He was saddened to hear about farmer suicides in a rich state like Maharashtra, and in Telangana his government provides high-quality power 24 hours a day free of charge, Rao said.
"We provide free power to farmers from the depth of our hearts, not for the sake of votes and not (only) at the time of elections," he said.
He also slammed the Maharashtra government for not giving adequate price to onion farmers.
In neighbouring Karnataka, the BJP was voted out and the Congress has come to power, "but is anything going to be changed," he asked.
Rao also called for farmers' unity for the resolution of agriculture-related issues.
"Here in Maharashtra, farmers get only Rs 600 as pension but in Telangana, we give Rs 2,000. I appeal to all the pensioners to bring a BRS government to power, we will give Rs 2,000 as pension," he said.
