Telangana Rashtra Samithi unlikely to back BJP in presidential polls

HYDERABAD: With the BJP and opposition parties reaching out to their alliance parties for the presidential elections to be held in July, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao is set to hold a crucial meeting with his party MPs once the presidential election notification is issued.
Sources said the ruling TRS may vote against the BJP candidate in this presidential elections. With the relations with the BJP having soured and ministers taking on the Centre almost every day on one issue or the other, sources said it is likely that the TRS leadership will not back the saffron party candidate this time.
The TRS had supported BJP candidates both in the presidential and vice-presidential elections - Ram Nath Kovind and M Venkaiah Naidu - last time round. Kovind came to Hyderabad during his campaign as a BJP presidential nominee in 2017 and KCR had even hosted a lavish dinner for him. KCR avoided meeting then Congress presidential candidate Meira Kumar though she tried to reach out to KCR.
Political analysts said the TRS could find itself on a sticky wicket over extending support. “If it supports a common candidate of the opposition parties alliance, the BJP may say that it has supported a Congress leader ahead of the assembly elections here. If the TRS abstains from voting, Congress leaders may allege that it did not vote only to indirectly benefit the saffron party. Either way, it is caught in a messy situation,” a senior analyst said.
Former MLC and analyst professor K Nageshwar agreed that the TRS is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. “The party will feel happy if a leader like Sharad Pawar or former PM HD Deve Gowda is fielded by the opposition parties. The TRS can feel safe and claim that it supported the opposition party as he (Pawar) had extended his support for the cause of Telangana,” Nageshwar reasoned.
Nageshwar said KCR may even propose the name of Pawar for the crucial elections.