Maharashtra: Not anyone’s B-Team, am on farmers’ team, says KCR in Solapur

K Chandrashekar Rao at the Vitthal mandir in Pandharpur. Pic/Twitter

Telangana chief minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K Chandrashekar Rao said on Tuesday that he was neither team A or team B of any big political party because the farmers and other sections of the society were with him to transform Maharashtra on the lines of his pro-people policies in the neighbouring state. He asked why big and established parties were so scared of his party that had entered the state barely three months ago.

"Why is there so much anger and hustle? Why are they scared of such a small party like BRS? Congress says we are BJP's Team B. The BJP says we are Congress's Team A. Where do these teams come from? Let me tell them, we don't need to be with any other party because BRS is a team supported by the farmers, Dalit, minorities and the underprivileged," Rao said while addressing a public rally in Sarkoli in Solapur district.

Rao, popularly known as KCR, was in Pandharpur with his ministers, MPs and MLAs to seek the blessings of the revered deities Vitthal and Rukmini on the occasion of annual Ashadhi pilgrimage. The occasion marked the entry of the local NCP leader Bhagirath Bhalke, whose late father was an influential MLA. Rao said young Bhalke was destined to win the next elections as the BRS candidate.

Accused of destabilising the state budget with a huge spend on freebies and populist schemes, KCR challenged his critics, including NCP boss Sharad Pawar and BJP leader and Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis to implement his welfare model in Maharashtra. "They say the state will go bankrupt if such schemes are implemented. I say yes... instead of the state, the leaders will go bankrupt. They are misleading the people with a false narrative against us. Such schemes have been running very successfully in Telangana for five-six years. BRS is a mission to transform the nation," said KCR.

He called for nationwide water and energy reforms. "Change is the only solution. Farmers are joining us in many states. We will take up all issues," he said, asking to change the national water and energy policies. He said the country had more than sufficient water to irrigate every acre of cultivable land. "If the Centre and state governments have guts they should make it possible. In Maharashtra it is possible, but the current situation is that the most prosperous state has the highest number of farmers' suicides. The cities like Aurangabad, Solapur, Akola, etc. get water supply once in a week or fortnight..."

KCR said despite domestic coal being available in sufficient quantity to generate thermal energy till the next 150 years, the fuel was imported. The state-run firms were being privatised. He said there was a need to strike a balance between coal-fired, hydro, wind and solar power.

"Telangana gives free electricity to farmers without capping consumption, pays for crop insurance and buys every grain from the farmers at a good price. But in Maharashtra, farmers fight every year for sugarcane price," he said, adding that he expected the ruling and opposition parties to discuss the BRS agenda instead of calling him out. "When I came to Nanded, Fadnavis questioned the need of BRS in Maharashtra. I ask him to implement my model. If he does so, I will leave Maharashtra and go to Madhya Pradesh," he stated further.

He questioned PM Modi's ‘make in India' mission, asking about the presence of China markets in everytown and city. "China makes kite thread, idols and what not that is sold here. Why can't Indians make such things?" KCR said, while assuring his supporters a grand victory because their fight was based on the principles of justice and morality.