Hours after dissolving the Telangana Assembly, K Chandrashekhar Rao set the tone for the state elections. Revealing his game plan, KCR said that his party Telangana Rashtra Samithi won’t go for any pre-poll alliance with the BJP.
‘TRS is a 100% secular party. How can we join hands with BJP,’ KCR asked while addressing media on Thursday.
Maintaining an equidistance from the Congress, KCR also attacked the Congress and its chief Rahul Gandhi.
‘Rahul Gandhi inherited the legacy of Congress Delhi sultanate, he is the legal heir of Congress empire of Delhi. That is the reason I appeal to the people, let us not become slaves to Congress, slaves to Delhi. Telangana ka nirnay Telangana mein hona chahiye (Telangana’s fate must be decided in the state itself),’ Rao said.
‘Everyone knows what Rahul Gandhi is…the biggest buffoon in the country. Whole country has seen how he went to Mr Narendra Modi and hugged him, the way he is winking. He is a property for us, the more he comes (to Telangana) the more seats we will win,’ Rao said while mocking the Congress chief.
However, he was all in praise of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM. ‘We are going to contest election alone but no doubt we are friends with MIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen),’ Rao added.
During the press conference, KCR also announced a list of 105 candidates.
But the move has sparked a debate on what prompted the TRS supremo to bite the bullet.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi said the aim is to leverage what they call the “feel good factor” prevailing in the state which has received good rainfall.
Rao is “upbeat” as his popularity rate has not fallen and his personal image continues to be strong, the sources claimed, adding that “the idea is to encash the positive mood among the people”.
A leader of an opposition party said Rao was trying to play a “very safe game”.
“He (Rao) wants to win back the state and hand it over to KTR (his son K T Rama Rao)”, he said, seeing the early poll move as part of the chief minister’s “succession plan”.
“He (Rao) wants to become a hero. You become a hero only when you fight an incumbent (NDA) government. The man wants to be a regional hero, just like (late) Jayalalithaa (former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister). He wants to play the same politics,” the leader said.
The TRS would “go with whoever gets bigger numbers” in the next Lok Sabha elections, he added.
A Congress leader said Rao did not want his opponents to get their act together.
“He wants to give them less resource-mobilisation time, less alliance-mobilisation time, and also less preparation time for the elections,” the leader said.
Meanwhile, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Rao was nursing national ambitions.
He wants to play a bigger role in national politics and that’s possible only if he wins the state polls. He desires to play a key role, pre-poll and post-poll, the leader said.
Another Congress leader claimed Rao was at a stage in his life where he was “losing energy and health” citing his “less-spirited” speech at last Sunday’s public meeting.
“He (Rao) wants to execute the succession plan; he needs two different elections. He can win back (the state) and promote his son (to the post of CM) and then focus on national elections himself,” he claimed.
As a smart politician, Rao understands the fluid nature of politics, a politial analyst said.
“Tomorrow, if all opposition (parties) including NDA allies rally together then he knows that things are going to be shaky for the NDA. In that kind of scenario, he will fight as a formal ally of the opposition alliance. So, he is giving himself a lot of elbow room to take those decisions pre-poll,” he said.
