KCR Jolts Maharashtra Politicians, Targets Solapur To Start With

Bharat Rashtra Samiti founder and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s (KCR) decision to exploit the Solapur belt for expanding his party’s presence in Maharashtra has started impacting politics in the state. Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde has fired a salvo at KCR by taunting him that Rao should take care of his own party first and then dream of coming to Maharashtra for political activities. Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole, too, has sniggered at Rao’s forays into the state. Undeterred, Rao zeroed in on Solapur because of the substantial Telugu-speaking population in this once famous textile town. The textile trade is controlled by this section. Several MPs and MLAs belonging to this section have dominated Solapur district’s politics for a long time. Telugus in the district have maintained ties with their places of origin in Telangana over the past two centuries. Of late, this section is feeling left out since the district’s politics has taken a pro-BJP turn. Looking for a viable option, some Telugu-speaking leaders have joined the BRS bandwagon. The Rao government has extended several sops to the weaving community in Telangana and is promising to do the same in Maharashtra.  Another sore issue is Solapur farmers’ complaint that their share of water is diverted to the more powerful districts like Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur. Rao is expected to hammer on this discontent, too, in future.