AP leaders walk into BRS; KCR vows to replicate TS\' schemes

HYDERABAD: BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Monday promised to extend government schemes of 24x7 free power to agriculture and Dalit Bandhu to countrywide, if the BRS cames to power at the Centre.

Rao was addressing a meeting at Telangana Bhavan after admitting leaders from Andhra Pradesh into the BRS.

BJP leader Ravela Kishore Babu, Jana Sena’s Thota Chandrashekar and Chintala Partha Sarathi were among those who joined the BRS. Rao welcomed them into the party and offered the BRS khanduvas.

The Chief Minister dared the Narendra Modi-led NDA government to privatise the Vizag Steel Plant and Life Insurance Corporation of India, which will be restored their PSU status once BRS comes to power at the Centre.

Taking a dig at the Centre, Rao said "Your policy is privatisation. Our policy is nationalisation. You privatize whatever you want. BRS will nationalise them after coming to power."

He appointed Thota Chandrashekar, a retired IAS officer, as president of the AP unit of the BRS.

"The BRS office in AP will become busy after Sankranti. Many MLAs and MPs in AP are willing to join BRS. When I asked them why they wanted to join BRS when they were MLAs and MPs, they said they are 'sitting' but not 'fitting' in their parties now," the Chief Minister said, which evoked laughter in the meeting hall.
Stating that he did not set up BRS for any political 'tamasha', Chandrashekar Rao said "It was set up for the cause of the country. Our endeavour will be to bring about a qualitative change across all the sectors in India."

He said that BRS would expand its operations to seven or eight states after Sankranti, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Odisha.
He lashed out at the present state of politics. He said, "Only political parties and political leaders are winning elections, while people are losing out. BRS wants to reverse this trend. People should win elections. Coming to power by hook or crook has become the sole agenda of political parties. They are going to any extent to win elections like telling lies, spending crores and indulging in all kinds of irregularities. The BRS wants to change this situation".

Assuring that BRS would extend Dalit Bandhu to the entire country, Rao said "There are about 25 crore dalit families in India and it requires Rs 25 lakh crore to implement the scheme. We can implement this in phases. It's not a big issue."