Hyderabad: In the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and TRS supremo created a flutter after meeting various regional political party leaders for his supposed Federal Front coalition. The idea was to build a non-Congress and non-BJP front, he had said.
But not only was the idea a non-starter, it was more or less abandoned after the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the 2019 Parliamentary polls with a thumping majority. In fact, KCR’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) even received a setback in those elections after it managed to only win nine Lok Sabha seats out of 17 in the state (the Congress won four, BJP three and AIMIM one).
That, in spite of the fact that the TRS won 88 seats out of 119 a year earlier in the state elections. Since then, the BJP has grown in Telangana, winning 48 seats out of 150 in the 2020 GHMC polls (TRS won 99 and AIMIM in 2015). It also managed to win the Dubbaka and Huzurabad assembly by-elections, giving the TRS some jitters at least.
And now, it seems like KCR is once again looking beyond state politics, possibly because he has realised that BJP can’t be ignored anymore. His national ambitions are no secret, given that he has been talking about it since 2018. In fact, the TRS is also reportedly seeking the expertise of Prashant Kishor from the Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC), which has worked with other regional parties over the last decade or so.
Presidential election? ‘A far fetched idea’
According to a source from the TRS, chief minister KCR might even be eyeing the Presidential elections. “Given that Telangana and the TRS will only be small players among all regional parties, going for a constitutional post will perhaps be his way of doing things. You need a good candidate The Congress candidate will be weak, and if everyone bands together to help, then why not?”, asked the source.
In the next few days, KCR will meet Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Seva supremo Uddhav Thackeray. In the past after floating the idea of a federal front, he has met other leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, West Bengal chief minister and TMC head Mamata Banerjee and others.
“KCR is not looking at the 2023 polls in Telangana, because we are going to win it. He is aiming for something bigger nationally, and IPAC has been roped in for that,” added the TRS source. In fact, a political consultant formerly with IPAC told Siasat.com said that in a prior meeting between Kishor and KCR, the latter stated that he didn’t need any help with the 2018 state elections and in fact asked then itself if something could be done for a bigger role nationally.
Will KCR be able to play a major role nationally?
While KCR’s national ambitions may even come true if the timing is right, he is certainly not in line or in any position currently to be considered for that role. The tallest figure, considered to be the real Chanakya is in fact the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Sharad Pawar, who is the main link between the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress Alliance in Maharashtra.
Aside from that, one has to also consider the fact that Telangana sends only 17 MPs to the Lok Sabha, while other states like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have more than double the numbers, which automatically gives other players a bigger hand. The Presidential election will be held in the coming months, and the ruling BJP with its sheer numbers of MLAs and MPs, has an advantage.
“Mamata is aiming to become the Prime Minister. There will be many aspirants for the PM’s post, so there is no question of KCR even aiming for that. Even for the Presidential election, who do you think will have more consensus? If Modi wants a regional satrap to become the President of India, Sharad Pawar will be his first choice. NCP has never been aggressive towards the BJP,” said political analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy.
He added that more importantly the results of the five states which have gone to polls, which will be out on March 10, will decide all future actions of KCR. “If the BJP does well then all of this jumping by regional parties will die down. If at all Modi loses in a few states, then there will be more stakeholders will come into the picture. More anti-Modi voices will emerge. We will have to wait and see,” he added.
