Hyderabad: The formation a new party comprising backward class leaders is on the cards in Telangana before the upcoming assembly elections slated to be held this year. A senior legislator who requested anonymity and who is at the forefront of this development said that talks are on and that a decision can be expected this month.
“Talks are on with community leaders from backward classes and different political parties to launch a new outfit. We have been approached by the Congress and have been promised prominent positions. We are waiting to see the Congress proposal,” the legislator said.
With backward communities making up about half the population of Telangana, a party of backward class leaders is likely to have an impact in the next elections, and might even become a deciding factor.
Assembly elections in Telangana were advanced after chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao dissolved the assembly on 6 September.
The Election Commission has also advanced deadline for final revision of electoral rolls from January 2019 to 8 October, 2018.
“In the last election in 2014, the Telangana statehood sentiment was high. The coming elections will hinge on caste. The backward community feels it should come together and have a separate political platform,” said the leader.
One of the most recognised faces from the community is Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA R. Krishnaiah, who represents the LB Nagar assembly seat. His name has been doing rounds as leader of the new party. “I am being asked to float and head a party. Community leaders are frustrated with the existing political parties,” he said and added that a decision on the matter would be taken soon.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who visited Telangana last month, also held a meeting with Krishnaiah.
The TDP, a party backed by the backward classes, has been weakened considerably since the 2014 assembly elections after 12 of its sitting MLAs defected to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi and one to the main opposition Congress. With this, backward community votes in the state are being seen as an important factor by both the TRS and Congress.
Political analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy, however, is sceptical. “They now feel it is time that a backward class leader gets the chief minister’s post. While Krishnaiah is well known, he never took the political plunge (of leading a party). Doing that now might help him get a few votes, but they are not big enough to become a force to reckon with. Caste-based politics will not succeed to any great extent,” he said.