Rama Krishna Sangem
BRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao would be addressing as many as 96 rallies in the current assembly elections, covering 101 segments. He is going to be the leader who visited the highest number of assembly constituencies in these elections. In fact, this has been the case with the two previous assembly polls in 2014 and 18 too.
KCR is the star campaigner and chief poll strategist for BRS. Every assembly candidate of BRS prefers his visit to their segment as his rallies will help boost their election prospects. The CM has commenced the poll race by all means. By declaring candidates for 114 seats on August 21, KCR has started the race early. By the month end, he has completed the ticket distribution to all seats.
KCR has commenced canvassing from Husnabad on October 15 and followed by two meeting a day each at Jangoan, Bhongir and Siricilla and Siddipet on October 17 and 18. Since then, he addressed 30 rallies till November 3. From November 5 onwards till 9, he will be addressing another 12 public meetings in different places. On November 5, Sunday, he spoke at Kothagudem in Khammam district.
In the second leg, that starts from November 13 and lasts till November 28, the last day for campaigning for November 30 elections, in 16 days, CM KCR will participate rallies in another 54 assembly constituencies. He will conclude his poll campaigning in a rally at Gajwel, his home constituency, on November 28. At an average three meetings per day all these days, KCR is not taking rest for a single day, for about 45 days.
In between, last week he performed a three day Raja Shyamala Yagam at his Yerrabelli farmhouse. KCR joined the rituals of Yagam since early morning and then taken up electioneering by helicopter and addressed three meetings every day. This is an arduous task, going by his recent recovery from a viral fever. His son IT Minister KTR may have opposed Narayana Murthy’s call for 70 hour per week work, but CM KCR is working at least 100 hours per week now
In fact, right from his recovery from a viral fever last month, KCR hasn’t taken a single day break from the one man apex war room. Interestingly, there is a war room for BRS which is run by a score of specialists and poll experts, but all the crucial decisions in the ruling party are taken by CM KCR alone, though he consults working president KTR and Harish Rao and a few others, depending on the local needs.
KCR directly talks to 50-70 lakh people
Sources in BRS’ war room told Excel India that CM KCR would be directly communicating with a minimum 50 lakh and a maximum 70 lakh people during these rallies and public meetings. This number is calculated as each of these meetings are attended by 50,000 to 70,000 people. Besides, another 20-25 lakh people watch his speeches every day on TV news channels.
Some may say, this public is mobilised by the party leaders, but this is the case with every political party. BRS is no exception. Unlike in the past, say, 25-30 years ago, people are not voluntarily coming to leaders rallies. Some hard core supporters will come, but they account for 10-20 per cent of the crowds. Ironically, even the Left parties find it difficult to organise public meetings these days for want of funds.
Compared to top leaders of other parties – PM Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda from BJP and Rahul, Priyanka from Congress, CM KCR enjoys the advantage of Telugu, in which he talks. KCR talks effectively and in Telangana dialect which is easily understood by the public. In case of PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi etc, they talk in Hindi and its Telugu translation is of poor quality.
Even Congress insiders say MP Uttam Kumar Reddy’s translation of Rahul speeches is horrible. All the resources spent on Rahul’s public rallies go waste, if Uttam translates them, said a Congress leader from Warangal district. There are local leaders like Revanth Reddy and Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka of Congress and Kishan Reddy and Dr K Lakshman from BJP. But they are not great speakers, to match the oratorical skills of KCR.
KCR’s meetings are arranged in manner that he uses two far away meetings and one meeting nearby Hyderabad , using helicopter every day. He is speaking not less than 30 minutes at every meeting. He is focusing on local achievements of his government in the last nine years, promising news schemes and then hitting at Congress for its talk of scrapping of Dharani land registration portal. This entire campaign strategy is designed by KCR himself.
