'Abki ki baar, kisan sarkar': KCR holds first BRS national rally in Maharashtra's Nanded

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Sunday held its first meeting outside the state at Nanded in Maharashtra and made intentions clear that his party will be fighting for farmers' issues. 

In a public address, KCR said, "Even after 75 years of independence, many places in the country do not have access to drinking water and also water for irrigation. Congress ruled the country for 54 years and BJP ruled for 16 years. These two parties are kasooravaar' (guilty).  It is a matter of sadness that Maharashtra sees the most number of farmer suicides."

He said that it is heart-wrenching to see farmers struggle and die. "On one hand farmers are dying and on the other hand leaders are making false promises," he said.

Stating that the time has come for peasants to take the reins of the country, Rao said, "That's why BRS slogan is 'Abki ki baar, kisan sarkar' (This time around, a government for the farmers). If we unite, it is not impossible. In our country, farmers constitute more than 42 per cent and if the number of farm labourers is also added to that it will be more than 50 per cent which is sufficient to form government."

"We changed the name of our party after understanding the current situation of our nation. Earlier our party name was TRS and now it's a national party, named BRS," he added.

#LIVE | #MakeInIndia has become a Joke in India: #Telangana CM & BRS chief KCR while addressing a public meet in Maharashtra's #Nandedhttps://t.co/bn2E9Q0XKX#2024Elections #LokSabhaElections #KCR #BRS #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/gAEE30RPu1

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The focus of the public meeting was to attract new people to the party as Nanded has a sizeable population of Telugu-speaking people due to its proximity to Telangana.

Speaking to reporters earlier, KCR had said that several villages in Maharashtra want to merge with Telangana due to the state's welfare and developmental schemes.

On February 17, BRS would be holding a public meeting at the Parade Ground in Secunderabad and Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, Janata Dal (United) National President Lalan Singh as representative of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Dr BR Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar among other dignitaries would attend it.