Mr Rao said 75 years after Independence, it was time for farmers to take the reins of the nation.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has renamed his party for his national ambitions, started the journey today with a rally across the border in Maharashtra's Nanded and an appeal to farmers. Nanded has a chunk of Telugu-speaking population. Earlier, some villages in the area had demanded that they be allowed to merge with Telangana in view of the schemes in the neighbouring state.
To be considered a national entity, the relaunched Bharat Rashtra Samithi, must be recognised as a state party in at least four states or win six per cent of the votes in any four states and four Lok Sabha seats. Else it has to win two per cent Lok Sabha seats (11 seats) in at least three states.
Declaring that he plans to contest all electoral contests in Maharashtra, Mr Rao said 75 years after Independence, it was time for farmers to take the reins of the nation. "That's why BRS slogan is 'Abki ki baar, kisan sarkar' (This time around, a government for the farmers)," he told the gathering.
"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," Mr Rao said. "Today, the time has come. 75 years is a long period. Farmers should also be able to write and make rules," he said.
Mr Rao, who had started out with a vision of a non-Congress-non-BJP front, has modified it somewhat with a plan to take his party national. He is now looking at pan-India groups like farmers' bodies, trade unions and civil society groups, where his party may have more traction and present an alternative welfare, development and political agenda.
Telangana is known for farmer-friendly schemes that include Rythu Bandhu life insurance, Ryuth Bandhu investment support, subsidy for seed distribution and scheme for farm mechanisation. Maharashtra is the state that has seen the highest number of farmer suicides. Also, both BJP and the Congress are playing key roles in the state – one as part of the ruling alliance and the other is in the opposition.
For KCR, the big question will be the expansion in Karnataka, where they are friendly with the opposition Janata Dal Secular of HD Kumaraswamy.
The opposition alliance in Maharashtra – Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party did not participate in the first BRS meeting in January though Mr Rao visited Mumbai and met them last year.