To put up an effective fight against the BJP across the country, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has renamed his party Telangana Rashtra Samithi to 'Bharat Rashtra Samithi' (BRS).

Party chief K Chandrasekar Rao announced that the party's general body unanimously resolved to change the name from TRS to BRS.

The cadres and leaders are in celebratory mode, hailing their party chief as a national leader. While the party endorsed the name change at its general body meet, party leaders burst crackers, distributed sweets and chanted "TRS and KCR Zindabad".

"Desh ke neta KCR" chants reverberated and similar slogans were seen in posters. "Desh ke neta KCR," "Dear India he is coming", and "KCR is on the way", were among the slogans prominently displayed in banners, that could be seen in and around the venue of the meet besides other locations in the city.

The crucial general body meeting of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi to change the party name to herald its national push in politics kicked off on Wednesday at the party headquarters.

Earlier, the presence of party leaders, including JD(S) leader and former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and Tamil Nadu-based Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) founder-chief Thol Thirumavalavan, had led to speculations on the contours of the nationwide plan, that KCR is contemplating and expected to announce.

"The idea is to put up a united fight against the BJP. Basically, it's a combination of various regional parties who want to rise above their political differences and come together," the JD(S) leader said.

Rao's move to accelerate his political fight against the BJP coincides with the announcement of the schedule for Munugode by-poll in Telangana by the Election Commission. The polling is scheduled to be held on November 3 and votes would be counted on November 6.

In 2020, the BJP emerged as a force to reckon with in Hyderabad civic polls and also won Assembly constituencies in by-polls held to segments including Huzurabad.

After renaming the party, TRS leadership plans to reach out to people by pitching its "Telangana good governance model" to venture into national politics and effectively take on the BJP. The TRS general body would meet at 'Telangana Bhavan', the party headquarters here, and pass a resolution effecting the name change, TRS sources told PTI.

The Election Commission would be apprised of the change as per the Representation of the People Act and relevant rules. A TRS leader Sreedhar Reddy said, "The people of the Nation are looking for a strong national platform as NDA failed in all aspects of governance".

KCR spoke about the national platforms and going to the national level. He said that the Gujarat model failed utterly and the country is looking for a strong alternative.

On the other hand, Telangana PCC Campaign Committee Chairman and EX-MP, Madhu Goud Yaskhi said, "It is a meaningless move by the CM of Telangana to form a national party. He has cheated the people of Telangana and now wants to cheat the people of the nation. This is just a cover-up of his failures and a tactic to divert the money from the Delhi liquor scam of his family members".

"KCR is just trying to divide the opposition for the benefit of the BJP party. Congress is the only way to a BJP-free country. If KCR wishes it, he should join Congress. However, the Congress does not want any alliance with the TRS party at the state level," said Madhu Goud Yaskhi, Telangana PCC Campaign Committee Chairman.

BJP Rajyasabha MP Dr Lakshman also retaliated and stated, "In a democracy, any political party at the national level or state level, everybody has the right to start the National party."

"As KCR wants to start the National party on the occasion of Dussehra, I want to question KCR that whether the promises that were made to the people of Telangana are unfulfilled, there is a lot of anger among the people of Telangana among all the group of people," he added.

Image courtesy: ANI