Has KCR dropped plans of anti-BJP, anti-Congress front for now?
Hyderabad, April 28: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao appears to have given up his plans to forge a front of various parties opposed to both the BJP and the Congress, at least for now, if his remarks at the TRS plenary are any indication.
For now, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief is likely to focus on preparing, what he calls, an alternative national agenda to bring a qualitative change in the country.
At the day-long plenary of the TRS held in Hyderabad on Wednesday to mark 21st foundation day of the party, he also hinted at floating a national party.
Since he did not mention at the plenary about his meetings with leaders of various political parties and Chief Ministers of some states, this added credence to the buzz that the TRS chief is toying with the idea of forming a national party.
During his inaugural speech, Rao said some legislators suggested that the TRS be changed into the BRS (Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi). During the day long deliberations on 13 resolutions, all TRS leaders urged KCR, as Rao is popularly known, to play an active role in national politics "as the country needs a visionary leader like him".
In one of the resolutions, the TRS said that it will play a key role in national politics in the coming days. The party observed it needs to play a constructive role and fill the political void at national level. To bring a qualitative change in the country on the lines the Telangana achieved with desirable results in education, irrigation, health and economic sectors, the country should be free from the evil forces and end the 'Bulldozer rule' and divide and rule policies adopted by the rulers in the country, says the resolution.
Responding to the requests made by the party leaders, KCR said he was ready to play an active role to the best of his ability. The plenary saw delegates repeatedly raising slogans of 'Desh ka neta KCR'.
The TRS chief repeatedly remarked that the country should come out of the routine political system of fronts. "Four parties or four leaders coming together to remove somebody from the post of the Prime Minister and install another person in his place is not the solution," he said.
He pointed out that the country has seen many fronts in the past that did not yield desired results. He also narrated an incident in which some Communist leaders came to him and expressed the desire to bring together various parties and he told them that if this was aimed at only removing somebody from power, he would not be part of it.
"We have seen many fronts. We need a front which works for the people. We need an alternative agenda, a new integrated agricultural policy, a new economic policy and new industrial policy," he said.
He also announced the plans to formulate an alternative people's agenda after consultations with economists, intellectuals and retired All India Service officers.
KCR said a detailed analysis will be made of the national politics, the resources the country has and the direction in which the country should march ahead. "All the aspects will be analysed and discussed for 15-20 days by economic experts from the country and abroad. I will also invite intellectuals. Some will be coming from Harvard University," he said.
The TRS leader said a meeting of 200 retired All India Service officers will be held in Hyderabad to help identify the key issues that need to be addressed.
The plenary also made it clear that KCR wants to project the successful model of Telangana to start a debate as to when a state formed only seven years ago could achieve all-round progress, why can't the country achieve it. "We can dream and we can also make those dreams come true. Telangana has shown this," said KCR, who believes that the people's aspirations remained unfulfilled even after 75 years of independence.
KCR had earlier called for developing 'Bangaru Bharat' (golden Bharat) saying the country has the potential to become more prosperous than the US.
In February, KCR had visited Mumbai, where he met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar as part of his renewed efforts to cobble together an anti-BJPAfront. He later went to Ranchi, where he met Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
The TRS leader had earlier held talks with leaders of CPI and CPI-M, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal-Secular of former Prime Minister Deve Gowda.
During his speech, KCR made no mention of the meetings with leaders of other parties. Political observers believe he may have given up the idea of the front in view of past experience.
The TRS leader had made similar efforts before 2019 Lok Sabha elections to forge an alliance of regional parties as an alternative to both BJP and Congress. This could not become a reality as some of the parties were opposed to the idea of keeping Congress out of the proposed formation.
As some regional parties still believe that the Congress should be a part of any alliance to take on the BJP, KCR is likely to adopt a wait and watch policy.
He may unveil the alternate national agenda and depending on the response of various parties, chalk out his future course of action. "This is a process. What happens in this process, only time will tell," he remarked at the plenary.
Political analysts say another possibility could be a post-poll alliance of like-minded parties. He is believed to have discussed this issue with election strategist Prashant Kishor.