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BRS looks for strong face in Maharashtra as KCR concludes two-day visit
During the meeting, Rao, popularly known as KCR, inducted former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member Bhagirath Bhalke
Pune: K Chandrasekhar Rao, Telangana chief minister and leader of Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), offered prayers at the famous Vitthal-Rukmini temple in Pandharpur on Tuesday and addressed a public meeting at Solapur indicating his desire to make inroads in Maharashtra politics and contest the upcoming polls.
During the meeting, Rao, popularly known as KCR, inducted former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member Bhagirath Bhalke. However, the party leaders have indicated that they are looking for a prominent face to lead its Maharashtra unit and help the party establish its base.
During his visit to Pandharpur, KCR said he did not discuss 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,” he said at a rally.
Later, his party colleagues said that the BRS is looking at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Other Backward Classes (OBC) face Pankaja Munde to represent the party in Maharashtra.
“Pankajatai is sidelined in the BJP despite being a mass leader. If she joins the BRS, that will help us expand here. The party can project her as the CM face in Maharashtra,” said Balasaheb Sanap, state leader of BRS. So far, the BRS has inducted the NCP and the Congress leaders, mainly from Marathwada, and south Maharashtra, a region that shares border with Telangana and has Telugu speaking population. BJP MP Sujay Vikhe said, “Munde is a mass leader and wooed by all parties. However, she will continue to remain with the BJP.”
According to political observers, without a mass leader, KCR’s attempts to expand base in Maharashtra will be futile. “Many parties, including Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party (SP) tried to gain foothold in Maharashtra, but were unsuccessful as they lacked a popular face,” said Chitra Lele, professor of political science.
Without a face, KCR will just be another player that will add to the already crowded political field in the state and may pose headache to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) by eating into their vote share, said the political observer.
Bhagirath Bhalke, who joined the BRS at a rally in Sarkoli near Pandharpur, is son of late Bharat Bhalke, a former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator from the Pandharpur assembly seat. After his defeat in bypolls to BJP’s Samadhan Autade, Bhalke was sidelined in the party, which prompted him to switch side, said NCP leaders.
This was KCR’s fifth visit to Maharashtra in four months. In his latest visit, KCR with his cabinet colleagues and MLAs arrived in Pandharpur in a motorcade of 600 vehicles on Monday.
At a rally, the Telangana chief minister slammed politicians from Maharashtra for 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 said.
He emphasised that the BRS is not just a regional party tied to Telangana, but a national player with a mission to bring about change in India. Rao said every major party in Maharashtra has had the opportunity to govern the state.
“The Congress ruled (Maharashtra) for 50 years. You gave chances to the NCP, the BJP, and the Shiv Sena. If they genuinely wanted to work for the state’s welfare, at least one of them could have done so,” he said.
Speaking in Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said the BRS has no intentions in Maharashtra other than trying to hurt the prospects of the MVA 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 the 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.
Earlier on Monday, Congress Maharashtra unit chief Nana Patole said the BRS is a B team of BJP and will make no impact in Maharashtra politics. “The people are smart enough to understand who will benefit from the division of votes,” Patole had said.
