Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Delhi yatra a step towards Federal Front?

HYDERABAD: Ahead of Chief Minister and TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao’s proposed visit to New Delhi, party MPs have been asked to prepare the ground in the national capital for Rao’s meetings with the heads of like-minded political parties to realise his dream of forming a federal front at the national level.

Rajya Sabha member K Keshava Rao, who has good contacts in various political parties given his past experience as Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and also as one-time AICC’s point man for West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Lok Sabha members B Vinod Kumar and AP Jithender Reddy have been asked to be in touch with leaders of regional parties and Left parties in this regard.

Rao is expected to be in Delhi on April 4 when three of his party’s newly-elected leaders to the Upper House of Parliament, including his nephew J Santhosh Kumar, will be sworn in as members of the Rajya Sabha. However, CMO sources said the CM’s tour schedule has not yet been finalised. It is likely to be finalised on Monday or Tuesday, sources added.

It is learnt that KCR, who met his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee recently, has been holding telephonic conversations with leaders of various regional parties in a bid to stitch a political formation against the BJP and the Congress.

“When he was spearheading the Telangana movement, KCR many times met leaders of almost all political parties across the country seeking their support. Now, he is reviving the relations in order to garner their support for his federal front idea,” a TRS leader disclosed.

The source further revealed that the TRS supremo had been in touch with leaders of Samajwadi Party. Already JMM leader and Jharkhand former chief minister Hemant Soren had met Rao in Hyderabad and discussed the formation of a front. However, some party leaders think that a clear picture on the proposed front would emerge only after Rao’s Delhi visit.

“West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee wants the Congress  included in the front which KCR wants to be non-BJP and non-Congress.

Interestingly, during the same week, Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP boss N Chandrababu Naidu will also be meeting leaders of various parties in Delhi.

The developments in Delhi in this week will have a bearing on KCR’s efforts to form a third front,” a TRS leader commented.

It is learnt that Rao, after his visit to Delhi, will also visit some states being ruled by regional parties to explain to them about his plan to set up an alternative front to bring about a qualitative change in the country.

He will soon finalise a schedule to organise meetings in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad to gather the views of retired officers and various organisations on how to formulate a pro-farmer agenda for the front. 

TRS not to stall LS today
Sticking to their decision, the TRS MPs will not stall the proceedings of the Lok Sabha on Monday when the notices given by TDP, YSRC, CPM and Congress for moving no-trust motion against the Narendra Modi government are expected to be examined by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. “We will not agitate in the Lok Sabha for empowering  states to enhance the ceiling on total quota of reservation,” an MP disclosed.