Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president KT Rama Rao on Saturday said that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will become irrelevant and inconsequential, both in Andhra Pradesh and national politics, after 2019 elections.
He believes other regional parties from Andhra Pradesh might take centrestage and may have bigger role to play in Andhra Pradesh and national politics.
Rama Rao was addressing ‘Meet the Press’ programme organised by Hyderabad Press Club a day after he was appointed TRS working president by his father, TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, after the latter decided to focus on national politics.
KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, said the front which TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu was trying to form at the national level was to strengthen his own party while KCR’s proposed federal front was aimed at bringing a qualitative change in the country’s polity.
The TRS leader said his party would play a role in Andhra Pradesh politics. “We will definitely have a role in Andhra Pradesh politics. You will see in due course,” he said.
KTR said he wishes for a strong regional party to win the elections in Andhra Pradesh. “People of Andhra Pradesh will decide who is best for them but we will also tell them who is right for them and who can safeguard their interests,” he said.
KTR evaded direct reply when asked if the TRS will support YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh. YSR Congress had not contested Telangana elections but backed TRS.
He was confident that the proposed federal front would emerge as an alternative to both the BJP and the Congress.
“Recent trends show the BJP can’t cross 150 Lok Sabha seats and even if Congress doubles its 2014 tally of 44 seats, it can’t cross 90. Even if the two parties come together they can’t form the government. The remaining seats will be with regional parties, who will provide the alternative.”
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The TRS leader said Telangana offers a development model to the entire country and the schemes implemented in the state during the last four-and-half years could be replicated across the country.
He said implementation of farm investment support scheme ‘Rythu Bandhu‘ in all the states would make the farming remunerative.
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KTR said that as TRS working president, his target would be to ensure that the TRS wins 16 of 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat is held by TRS’ friendly party All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
He did not agree that he became party working president because he is KCR’s son.
“Being somebody’s son or daughter serves only as an entry pass,” he said, adding that he contested and won four elections to prove himself.
(With IANS inputs)