TRS plenary to focus on Federal Front

This year’s plenary of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), to be held on Friday, assumes added significance in view of party President and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao exploring the possibility of expanding his presence at the national level ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Mr. Rao is proposing what is termed a Federal Front comprising various regional parties as an alternative to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, the two national parties that, except for a brief period, have ruled the country since Independence.

However, KCR, who has already met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Benerjee and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in this regard, is yet to spell out the main objectives, modalities and policies of the proposed front – one of the reasons cited by the leaders of some political parties to say that they were in a wait-and-watch mode.

As per the agenda of the plenary, a political resolution on the efforts of TRS in forging a Federal Front to usher in qualitative change in politics would be adopted. But it remains to be seen whether the resolution or a debate on this issue in the one-day session would spell out the principal objectives and policies of the front.

The other aspect to watch out for at the 17th plenary of the TRS is what action the ruling party in the State would chalk out in light of the 2019 elections to the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha.

Time and again, the TRS president has expressed confidence that his party would bag as many as 106 of the 119 Assembly seats in the State in the next elections. However, political observers say that ground realities in rural areas reveal that the next elections would not be a cake walk for the ruling party.

Electoral battles

During the last four years, KCR seemed to have focused mostly on the aspects of governance and execution of various schemes and projects, particularly in agriculture and irrigation sectors. He seemed to have not devoted much of his time in strengthening his party cadre and organisational structure. KCR may turn his attention to these aspects in the coming year. Meanwhile, the entire party looks to be dependent on the charisma of KCR to fight the impending electoral battles.

But would the sway KCR held over the electorate as a leader of a strong movement for separate statehood remain intact even after he has been the head of the government for five years is a question that cannot be answered at present.

As KCR continues to be an undisputed leader of his party as well as the TRS government, whether there would be anyone in the party to question his vision, wisdom or style of functioning leading to a healthy debate is doubtful. But this is not something unique to TRS. The same situation reportedly prevails in most of the other political parties in the country.

So far, KCR has been successful in luring leaders of the Congress, TDP and CPI into TRS fold, weakening the opposition parties.

These opposition parties might come together now to wage a united fight against TRS during the elections.

The latest entry into the opposition arena is Telangana Jana Samithi floated by Joint Action Committee (JAC) Chairman M. Kodandaram, a friend-turned-foe of KCR.