TRS leader seen distributing liquor bottles and chicken day before KCR rebrands party as national outfit

A day before K Chandrasekhar Rao's Telangana Rashtra Samiti goes national with a rebranding, the party found itself in controversy after party leader Rajanala Srihari was seen distributing liquor bottles and chicken to locals in Warangal. 

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KCR, the TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister, is expected to launch a new national party on Wednesday on the auspicious occasion of Vijayadasami. To celebrate the party's national move, TRS leader Rajanala Srihari was seen handing out liquor bottles and chicken to residents of a locality in Warangal. At the TRS leader's liquor and chicken distribution ceremony, two life-size cardboard cutouts -- of Chief Minister KCR and his minister son KT Rama Rao -- were placed.

After the video went viral, Srihari responded by expressing his anger at those trying to give a political twist to his gesture. The TRS leader said he was merely distributing alcohol and chicken to porters as Dussehra gifts and that the ceremony had nothing to do with the party's national shift. 

The controversy, however, puts a dent in the rechristening exercise. KCR plans to pitch the 'Telangana good governance model' across the country as part of efforts to foray into national politics.

As part of its attempts to create a national appeal, KCR is expected to project the 'Dalit Bandhu' (Rs 10 lakh grant to every Dalit household to start any business or trade) and the 'Rythu Bandhu' support scheme for farmers. The BJP has already dubbed these freebies that cannot be implemented in the national level.   

The TRS general body meet, scheduled to be held on Wednesday at 'Telangana Bhavan', the party headquarters in Hyderabad, is expected to pass a resolution effecting the name change, sources said, adding that one of the names doing the rounds is 'Bharata Rashtra Samiti'.

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