Hyderabad: The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is all set to hold its 17th plenary at Kompally near Hyderabad on 27 April when party president and Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao is expected to announce his plans to enter national politics, with the intent of forming a non-Congress and non-Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) front.
Senior leaders from the TRS, who did not want to be named, said Rao, also known as KCR, along with senior party functionaries is expected to decide on the matter soon, and announce whatever decision is taken.
So far, Rao has met his West Bengal counterpart and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, Chattisgarh Janata Congress chief Ajit Jogi and Janata Dal (Secular) chief Deve Gowda to discuss the front, but nothing concrete has come of it yet.
“People think that KCR is secretly helping the BJP. But my guess is that he might be looking to become a kingmaker (if a coalition government is formed) post the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,” said a senior TRS leader, who was unwilling to be quoted. Another leader, who also did not want to be named, said that about six to seven resolutions will be undertaken at the plenary, in which Rao’s entrance into national politics is likely to be included.
If at all Rao announces that he will step into national politics after the 2019 elections, it is to be seen who heads the TRS in Telangana then. While rumours have been doing the rounds in political circles that his son K. T. Rama Rao, who is also the state information technology minister, is expected to take over, the TRS leaders said that nothing on those lines will be mentioned in the upcoming plenary.
“There is a strong possibility that KCR won’t contest in the assembly elections in 2019. All opposition parties are hoping that the 2014 polls was an aberration. If at all there is a coalition government, then TRS, if it wins most of the 17 MP seats, can be the kingmaker. When you look at leaders like Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad, they have some stature in Delhi. Rao also undoubtedly wants to get into that league,” opined political analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy.
It might also be noted that just two days after TRS’s plenary, the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC), which spearheaded the statehood agitation (from 2009 to 2014 till Telangana was formed), will formally launch the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), its political wing. The TJS has drawn many disgruntled second rung leaders from the TRS into its fold.
While TRS leaders said they were not bothered about the TJS, and that its formation was not a cause for worry, Reddy said the new entrant might take away some of the ruling party’s votes. “People voted for TRS in 2014 because it’s a Telangana party, and TJAC’s chairman Prof. M. Kodandaram (who will now head the TJS) is a much more credible face. In the best case scenario last time the TRS won 63 out of 119 seats. I feel it will suffer electorally in 2019,” he added.