CM KCR to take up BRS expansion post budget session

K Chandrashekhar Rao is all set to focus on expanding the party's operations in other States. Prominent among them are Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka

Hyderabad: BRS President and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is all set to focus on expanding the party’s operations in other States immediately after the budget session of the Telangana State Legislative Assembly scheduled to begin on February 3. Prominent among them are Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where several former and sitting legislators and Parliamentarians are said to be in touch with the party leadership.

Andhra Pradesh was the first State to have a full-fledged unit, with a State chief in the form of Thota Chandrasekhar. Sources said Chandrasekhar, former Minister Ravela Kishore Babu, and others who have joined the party recently, have started touring the State. The party President is said to have worked out a strategy to expand the base and these leaders have intensified efforts to reach out to as many leaders as possible in this regard and garner people’s attention.

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Sources said Thota Chandrasekhar reportedly held a meeting attended by several Kapu leaders including two former Ministers from Congress who later shifted to TDP and BJP respectively. A TDP sitting MLA too is learnt to have evinced interest. The BRS AP president had already announced that K Chandrashekhar Rao would address a massive public meeting likely to be held in Visakhapatnam within the next two months. Many leaders are expected to join the BRS at this meeting.

“The political leadership in Andhra Pradesh is largely dominated by the upper castes. Hence, the BRS is planning to focus on the BCs, SCs and STs who are largely ignored in the political leadership in Andhra Pradesh,” sources working with the BRS AP unit told Telangana Today.

A different situation prevails in the neighbouring Karnataka where the BRS is making in-roads. Though the party will make its presence felt across Karnataka, the focus would be on Telugu-speaking border constituencies. By joining hands with JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and the later developments, the BRS leadership made its intentions clear that both the parties together will contest the upcoming Assembly elections in May. The party Ministers and top leaders will campaign for the JD(S) in the State.

In Odisha, at least 15 former legislators and Parliament members including two sitting MLAs, mostly from Congress party in Odisha are expected to join the BRS in next couple of months. Chandrasekhar Rao is expected to visit Odisha in last week of February to launch the party’s Odisha unit. While Odisha PCC former secretary Kailash Kumar Mukhi has already joined the BRS, former minister Jayaram Pangi, who attended the BRS rally in Khammam recently, is also planning to join the party and an announcement to this effect is expected in the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang and his son Sisir have already met Chandrashekhar Rao in Hyderabad and are likely to join the BRS soon. While speaking to reporters in Odisha, Giridhar Gamang maintained that “they were still in BJP”. However, his son Sisir didn’t mince his words stating that Telangana was making great progress under Chandrashekhar Rao’s leadership.