On Monday, K Chandrashekhar Rao, the President of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Chief Minister of Telangana, urged farmers to take part in the upcoming Zilla Parishad elections in Maharashtra and ensure the BRS’s victory. Addressing a public meeting at the Jabinda Grounds in Aurangabad, he promised that if the BRS came to power, it would provide drinking water through taps in every household within five years and ensure quality power supply for all sectors, including agriculture.
Chandrashekhar Rao pointed out that Telangana had made these essential requirements a reality for all sections of its citizens in a short span of time, and asked why Maharashtra couldn’t achieve similar success. He stated that there was no shortage of funds in Maharashtra, but a shortage of will power, which the BRS had in abundance.
The Chief Minister urged farmers to use their vote effectively, saying that they should go to the Assembly now and raise their slogan of ‘Ab ki Baar Kisan Sarkar.’ He called on them to hoist BRS flags in the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat elections, promising that leaders from Mumbai and New Delhi would come running to them.
Chandrashekhar Rao reminded the crowd that a single BRS gathering in Nanded forced the Maharashtra government to adopt Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu plan and provide farmers with an input subsidy of Rs.6000 per acre. He urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to follow Telangana’s lead and raise the assistance to Rs.10,000 per acre.
The Chief Minister also criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him and his colleagues of being least bothered about farmer suicides and instead being busy bringing in cheetahs from Africa. He called for out of the box thinking and fighting to bring about change, stating that the BRS was formed for this battle.
Chandrashekhar Rao concluded by saying that the BRS was not for one election, one day, or one community, religion, or caste. It was here to fight for all the people of India, and already had a permanent office in Nagpur and was setting up a permanent office in Aurangabad too. He called for change, stating that the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer, and that no one from the US or Russia would come to help.
