With his eyes set on pan-India presence, the CM relaunches TRS in new avatar

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao who has shown a strong inclination to be a serious player in national politics has taken the first step towards it.  He has launched Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) which would be fighting the 2024 general election and catapult KCR onto the national stage. The new party is a rip-off of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).But before the TRS aka BRS becomes a 'national party' it must pass the litmus test of the Election Commission which decides upon the credentials of a party for national stature. The 'name-change' of course has been conveyed to the Election Commission. To be a national party, it must be recognized as a state party in at least four states or has to have won six per cent of the votes in any four states and four Lok Sabha seats. Or the party must win two per cent Lok Sabha seats (11 seats) in at least three states.  Right now TRS is one state party. It rules Telangana but has hardly any presence outside the state, though KCR, thanks to his forays to Delhi and presence on the dais in various public meetings is a known name nationwide. He has also established his strong credentials as a strong anti-BJP chief minister who is willing to take on the BJP in his state and elsewhere. This brings him to the national stage and is in line with the opposition parties which are trying to cobble up an anti-BJP alliance.

KCR has made his intentions clear from day one that he means business and will take on Prime Minister Modi in the 2024 elections. He is also meeting with a lot of opposition leaders and is said to have a good rapport with them. The Chief Minister Rao, before the relaunch of his party, met with several political leaders including his counterparts in other states - Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal and MK Stalin. Besides, Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy attended the BRS launch party. So far KCR is not trying to forge a united front against the BJP but talking to like-minded parties to come together for a common cause. As an astute politician, he knows making a front would not be easy so he seems to be avoiding it and focusing on presenting his Telangana Model of development to the rest of the country, something that Prime Minister did in his run-up to Delhi. Do we have another PM in making? We shall see.