Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will visit some districts of Telangana on March 31 to inspect crops drying due to lack of irrigation water and meet farmers worried due to drought. KCR, as Rao is popularly known, will visit Jangaon, Suryapet, and Nalgonda districts.
Former minister and BRS Working President KT Rama Rao, who had on Thursday, March 28, inspected the fields in Rajanna Sircilla district, alleged that the farmers in the state were facing a lot of hardships because of the policies adopted by the Congress government. The drought being witnessed in the state was not because of the nature and time but because of the current Congress government, he alleged.
KCR’s decision to visit the district comes amid a series of setbacks for his party, still reeling under the defeat in the recent Assembly elections.
The BRS on Friday received a huge shock with senior leader and party General Secretary K Keshava Rao deciding to rejoin the Congress, along with his daughter and Hyderabad Mayor Vijayalaxmi Gadwal.
Another senior BRS leader and MLA Kadiyam Srihari and his daughter Kadiyam Kavya, who opted out of the contest as BRS candidate for the Warangal Lok Sabha seat, also met Congress leaders who invited them to join the party. Srihari, a former Deputy Chief Minister, said he would make a decision in a couple of days.
The BRS has already lost five sitting MPs, one MLA, and several other leaders to either Congress or BJP.
Meanwhile, KTR told a meeting of BRS leaders that leaders like Keshava Rao and Srihari were leaving the party in difficult times. "While leaving the party, they are making criticism. I leave it to their wisdom. Time will give a reply to them,” he said, adding that while leaders are leaving the party, the cadres stand by it. He assured the cadres that he would personally work for them.
"I will personally come and be there for the workers who have been working for the party and leaders for a long time," he said.
He also slammed Chevella MP Ranjith Reddy and former minister Mahender Reddy for leaving the party. He remarked that on the day when KCR’s daughter was arrested, they joined Congress with a smile and asked BRS leaders to take revenge for the same. He also stated that if Mahender Reddy and Ranjith Reddy came again and even touched the feet of KCR, he would not allow them back into the party.