Hyderabad: Emerging from the struggle to achieve separate statehood for Telangana to becoming a national party in a span of 25 years, BRS is celebrating its silver jubilee on Sunday. The party, which was founded at Jala Drushyam on the banks of Hussainsagar, will hold a public meeting at Elkaturthy in Warangal district to mark the major milestone.
The party, which started with a handful of people led by party supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao, now has branches in 60 countries and over 63 lakh members in Telangana alone. The party, which ruled Telangana for nearly 10 years since the formation of the state in 2014, lost power in the state in 2023 and drew a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, hopes to bounce back in the next elections.
Former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to make a public appearance and address a public meeting after several months. He had last addressed a public meeting in Nalgonda over the Krishna Water sharing dispute. Since this is the major meeting after the electoral debacle, the party leaders hope it would boost the morale of the party workers in the state.
“It’s a milestone for the party as only BRS (earlier TRS), after JMM of Jharkhand, which started as a movement party turned political party. JMM has been ruling the state for several years. People are now eager to see BRS supremo KCR,” BRS working president KT Rama Rao said.
KTR said BRS (earlier TRS) has faced many struggles and setbacks during the 13-year Telangana movement and in the past 17 months, the party has been fighting for the people on various public issues like Rythu Bharosa, loan waiver, students’ scholarships, fee reimbursement, paddy procurement, and BC caste survey. “It has gained the faith of the people, and they sought the party’s support on the Musi project, HYDRAA, University of Hyderabad (UoH) land issues,” the working president said.
For Sunday’s public meeting, the party is targeting to mobilise 10 lakh people, about 3,000 to 5,000 from every assembly constituency. The majority of the people would come from Warangal, Khammam, Karimnagar, and surrounding districts.
Of the 1,213 acres of land in Elkaturthy village, the party dais would be in 154 acres to seat about 500 people, including elected representatives and senior party functionaries, and 1,500 acres have been earmarked for vehicle parking. Another dais was erected for cultural programmes, and 2,000 volunteers were pressed into service for any help. To avoid any traffic issues due to vehicle breakdowns, 25 towing vehicles and 250 CCTV cameras with a dedicated command control centre have been arranged.
“For uninterrupted power supply, 200 generators will be kept ready and 23 LED screens for the participants. Nearly 10 lakh water packets, 16 lakh buttermilk packets, temporary toilets, and other arrangements have been made at the venue,” the party said in a statement.