With grand ‘yagna’ & new office in Delhi, KCR steps up drive to become ‘desh ka neta’

Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao is in Delhi for two-day yagna that will conclude with official launch of the office of his renamed party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi.

Yagashala set up in Delhi for KCR's Nava Chandi Yagnam | Courtesy: Telangana CMO

Hyderabad: Accompanied by a group of priests and an entourage of 800 party workers and supporters, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is in Delhi for the official launch of his renamed party, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). The launch — an attempt by KCR to realise his national ambitions to become a desh ka neta (national leader) — will be done with an elaborate yagam (yagna).

The party chief is in Delhi to inaugurate the BRS’s central office, hosted on rented property on a temporary basis. The construction of a permanent party office has already begun in Delhi’s Vasant Vihar colony on land allotted by the President of India for this purpose. Sources told ThePrint that completion of the Vasant Vihar office will take a ‘few more months’.

At least eight priests were flown to Delhi from Telangana for the Nava Chandi yagam (yagna), which began Tuesday and will conclude with the office’s official inauguration Wednesday.

KCR’s close aide and well-known vaastu consultant Suddala Sudhakar Teja told ThePrint, “The significance of this (yagam) is that it is performed before starting anything new or a mission that one wants to accomplish. The yagam performed for the goddess will ensure victory and success in the mission. And because he (KCR) is taking the first step today to launch the BRS in Delhi with the aim to establish it as a national party and also emerge successful, this particular yagam has been chosen.”

Teja, who will be taking part in the two-day yagam, was appointed a government advisor to Telangana’s roads and buildings department in 2015. He is also the government’s key advisor running point on the reconstruction of the Telangana Secretariat to address vaastu concerns at the exchequer’s expense.

“This is not the first time that the chief minister is performing such a yagam. He has done it in the past also before starting something new or implementing a decision that could have had a large impact. This particular yagam has the moola mantra (a certain kind of chant),” he said.

KCR had famously performed a Raja Shyamala Chandi Homam before the 2018 polls, the second assembly election in the state after its formation. His party — then called the TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) — won 88 of 119 seats, paving the way for KCR’s second term as CM of India’s youngest state.

“Raja Shyamala Yagam is usually done to obtain power, more like for the welfare of the leader and retaining power,” explained Bachampalli Santhosh Kumar Shastry, a priest considered close to KCR.

In 2019, guided by over 300 Vedic pandits, KCR had performed a five-day ‘Chandi yagam’ at his farmhouse on the outskirts of Hyderabad before expanding his Cabinet.

‘Auspicious time, food restrictions’

According to reports, KCR signed a letter at exactly 1.20 pm Friday — an ‘auspicious’ time — acknowledging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) nod to change the party’s name from TRS to BRS. He also unveiled the BRS flag later that same day.

Discussing the yagam, Shastry said, “There are some rules when one performs a yagam, there are restrictions on food, on how much time to fast, and one is required to sleep on the floor. Our chief minister usually follows the food restrictions depending on our wishes and the intensity of chants included.”

A yagashala, essentially a temporary shelter arrangement set up specifically for yagams, was also set up inside the office premises in Delhi.

Besides ground-level workers, MLAs, MPs, MLCs and heads of government-run bodies, as many as 800 party workers were expected to reach Delhi by late Tuesday to attend the inauguration of the BRS office. “Some of them have come on their own, a majority of them were flown in. There are around 436 key leaders of the 800,” said another party leader.

A top BRS leader told ThePrint on condition of anonymity: “The mission is ultimately the same. Be it a yagam done for power or for success, KCR is aiming to establish his national presence and that’s the focus.”

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)