The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR has been intensifying its bids to make inroads into the neighbouring state of Maharashtra in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BRS has held rallies in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra in recent months, which also drew crowds. CM KCR along with his entire Council of Ministers is arriving in Pandharpur temple town in Maharashtra's Solapur district on June 26. All of them will visit the famous Shri Vitthal Rukmini Mandir in Pandharpur on June 27 – two days before Ashadhi Ekadashi. The BRS’s Maharashtra Kisan Cell chief Manik Kadam said, "KCR had visited the Pandharpur temple in the past. This time the entire Telengana Cabinet led by him will be at Pandharpur." The BRS has also planned to shower rose petals on warkaris from a helicopter in Pandharpur during the KCR Cabinet's presence in the town. Warkaris are the devotees of Lord Vitthal, who undertake annual pilgrimage to the temple town on foot in June-July in large numbers. The BRS is also taking various other measures, including recruiting party workers and making an outreach to farmers, for its foray into Maharashtra, which seems to have caused some concern in a section of state parties, especially those in the Opposition. Senior NCP leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Ajit Pawar said, "We cannot take BRS lightly. The BRS is proactive in Maharashtra. It is spreading its network rapidly to consolidate itself in the state." KCR's Maharashtra strategy seems to be focused on highlighting the need for “Kisan Sarkar” — a government, he says, which will be dedicated for the cause of farmers. Recently, KCR opened a BRS office at Nagpur, where he also held a public rally. The event saw BRS workers turning the second capital of Maharashtra pink with the party's banners and posters put up across the city. The RSS' headquarters is located in Nagpur, which is also the home town of Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Fadnavis said, "Everybody who wishes to come to Pandharpur temple to worship Lord Vitthal is welcome. The doors of Pandharpur temple are open to one and all irrespective of caste, community, political ideologies or state,"adding that “If KCR is coming as a pilgrim to Pandharpur along with his Cabinet Ministers to seek darshan we welcome them.” He however also said, "Our only concern is there should be no politics when you have undertaken pilgrimage to Pandharpur. Anybody who comes here is a devotee.” The BRS has also planned to set up its offices at Aurangabad, Pune and Mumbai. While welcoming KCR's temple visit, the Maharashtra leaders are questioning the BRS's plans in the state. Senior Congress leader and ex-CM Ashok Chavan said, "The BRS has held rallies in the state. They are not spelling out their ideological leanings clearly. If they are against the government at the Centre and in the state, why are they not associating with the Opposition parties. These are questions that come to our mind." In February and April, the BRS held rallies in Nanded, which is Chavan's home turf. Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said, "We can sense KCR has come to Maharashtra with a definite plan. Are they working to help BJP indirectly. Is KCR looking to cut into Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) vote bank," adding that “these are the concerns we cannot overlook”. The BRS has claimed it would contest all the 48 Lok Sabha and 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra in the polls next year and that it would not have an alliance with any major state player. In its public outreach in Maharashtra, the BRS has been showcasing its Telangana government's welfare model under which, the party claims, “farmers get free electricity and water round the clock”. It has also been highlighting the KCR government's scheme of providing Rs 10,000 per acre financial aid to farmers to cope with investment expenditure and achieve sustainable farming. Such reforms have helped to check farmer suicides in Telangana, the party says. At his public rallies in Maharashtra, KCR wonders why the resource-rich state has not been able to check farmers’ suicides. "Maharashtra is a state where Krishna, Godavari, Pranhita, Mula, Wainganga and other rivers flow. Yet, farmers are deprived of access to water. Similarly, Maharashtra has maximum coal resources but farmers are deprived of power. They work at night," he told the Nagpur rally. The Telangana welfare model, he claimed, “changed farmers' lives for good”. “The state has surpassed the most prosperous state Punjab in agriculture. Of the total paddy cultivation on 94 lakh acres in the country, Telangana accounts for 56 lakh acres,” he said. Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “BRS will not impact Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra. We are on a strong footing,” adding that nobody from the BJP has joined the BRS so far. Both the ruling BJP-Shinde Sena and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — which includes the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP — are closely tracking the BRS, with a section of the MVA believing that KCR’s party may “play the spoiler” for them by emerging as a possible “vote-divider” against the incumbent alliance in some constituencies.
