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JDS to work with KCR’s rechristened party for LS polls, tweets Kumaraswamy
Kumaraswamy's announcement comes hours after he met Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao whose TRS has been renamed Bharat Rashtra Samithi as the latter makes a foray into national politics.
Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said the Janata Dal Secular (JD-S) will actively work with the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) – the two-decade-old Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) that was rechristened to enter the national foray – in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.
The announcement came hours after Kumaraswamy met with Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
“After the 2023 elections, both the parties will work hard to bring an independent government apart from the Congress-BJP parties in Karnataka. Shri KCR has promised to give us full support. Kannadigas need a self-respecting government in Karnataka. We both discussed in this regard,” wrote the senior JDS leader in a series of tweets.
Welcoming the establishment of BRS, Kumaraswamy said that a new political power was needed to put an end to the ‘political monopoly’ in the country.
“There was a need for alternative political power in national politics. Political monopoly of some parties is dangerous for the country. New political power was needed to put an end to this. I feel that BRS is a 'powerful alternative'. We welcome the establishment of BRS with an open mind,” he said.
Earlier in the day, TRS workers in Hyderabad celebrated with slogans and banners that read “Desh ka neta KCR”, “Dear India, he is coming” and “KCR is on the way” around the venue of the general body meeting.
In his speech, KCR explained the reasons for the party's transition. Stating that the purpose for which the TRS was floated in April 2001 had been achieved with the formation of Telangana state. He said the TRS has made Telangana the top-ranked state in the country on all fronts in the last eight years.
“Now, it is time to take the Telangana model of development to the entire country. Even after 75 years of Independence, India has remained backward in many areas, lagging behind smaller countries such as Bangladesh,” he said, adding that it will take a lead role in providing an alternative development model for the country to put it on the global map of developed nations.
KCR has been meeting chiefs of regional parties over the last year as part of his efforts to unite them for a third political alternative against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress.
In Telangana, KCR’s party has been on a collision course with the BJP and calling for a BJP-mukt Bharat, accusing it of fanning communalism and practising divisive politics.
