KCR TRIES TO consolidate farmers’ votes to return to power

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K. Chandrashekhar Rao, whose political ideas are known to be always in a flux, has brought back the focus of his party on farmers. Party leaders believe that the current phase of his speeches is to try and consolidate the farmers’ votes which constitute a huge chunk of the state of Telangana.
Moreover, the BRS has opened its office in Nagpur, Maharashtra and the KCR has started wooing farmers in the neighbouring state. However, his existence in the adjacent state is considered “very small” and “impactless”. A BRS leader said, “The whole idea of wooing farmers in Maharashtra may be there just to create a stir among farmers which would consolidate the farmers’ votes back in Telangana. He is showing that the concern for farmers comes from his heart. And the concern is not limited by boundaries. His concern for farmers is not only for Telangana. The news about him talking about farmers anywhere will solidly run back in his home state of Telangana.” Recently, KCR issued a clear invitation to farmers to back the BRS and vote for them to bring a “Kisan Sarkar” to Maharashtra in the next elections in order to avoid conducting street protests for their rights. He further urged them to get together and support the BRS party, and work to make the phrase “Ab Ki Bar Kisan Sarkar” a reality. He further added, “42% of the population of India depends on agriculture, making it an agricultural country. For farmers, neither the Congress nor the BJP had taken any action. It’s time for farmers to assume control and make decisions about their future.”
On the other hand, the Congress is planning to corner the BRS government in areas where it has faltered in taking care of farmers. Recently, TPCC member and former MLA Kommuri Prathap Reddy, while speaking to media persons, said that the BRS which promised compensation to the farmers who lost their crops due to untimely rains, is yet to come to their rescue.
He further added, “It’s been two months since the CM K Chandrasekhar Rao had promised to bail out the farmers whose crops were damaged due to rains and hailstorms; however, the government is yet to provide relief to the farmers. Moreover, the government also failed to make payments to the farmers for the paddy procured from them.”
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state president Jayant Patil had followed up on BRS’s Maharashtra entry and criticised the BJP government, accusing them of bringing a “new shop” (Bharat Rashtra Samiti), into the state to divide farmers’ votes.
KCR had triggered a controversy by saying that Mr Modi is his good friend, throwing all political observers in confusion. A BRS leader close to leadership circles told The Sunday Guardian that nobody knows what’s going on in his mind. “Only he knows what he is trying to accomplish.”