Accompanied by a convoy of almost 600 vehicles, BRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday left for a two day long visit to Solapur in Maharashtra.
The 600-vehicle long convoy seems to be an attempt on Rao’s part to recreate the 1,000-car long rally from Hyderabad to New Delhi which had taken place in March 2003 in an effort to grab the eyeballs of the residents of the national capital, so far insulated from the heat of the Telangana movement for statehood.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known as, had driven his own car and maintained contacts with the participants in other cars through walkie-talkies and slogans of “Jai Telangana” reverberated in the air as the vehicles entered and paraded through the streets of Delhi ending with his speech at Ram Leela Maidan. It was also the first time Rao had travelled extensively through Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and had extended his support to the cause of Vidarbha.
After two decades, Rao is now eyeing a similar impact in Maharashtra where he is keen to fight elections taking advantage of the current political flux after the split in Shiv Sena and the changing ties between political parties. Keen on expanding the BRS in neighbouring Maharashtra Rao has been making several trips to the state, this year, the last one just ten days ago to inaugurate the newly set up BRS office in Nagpur.
Today, Rao set out from Pragathi Bhavan in one of the two buses in the convoy along with his trusted lieutenants like MPs K Keshav Rao, Nama Nageshwar Rao and J Santosh and several ministers. Cars in the convoy had pink banners fixed atop and people lined up on stretches of the road to throw rose petals as the huge convoy made its way to Solapur.
During his visit to Solapur the BRS supremo will combine party work with temple visits. The Telangana chief minister is slated to visit Lord Vithoba temple at Pandharpur which is a popular shrine among farmers who pray for a good monsoon and a good harvest at this time of the year and the Tulja Bhavani Temple at Tuljapur.
The BRS, which has raised the slogan “Ab ki bar Kisan sarkar”, also plans to shower rose petals from a helicopter on the pilgrims at the Vitthal Rukmini temple at Pandharpur. Rao will also address a rally at Solapur. The chief minister reached Solapur today evening and will stay overnight before leaving for his temple visit tomorrow.