Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who pitched the idea of a federal front to take on BJP, without the Congress, is now trying to be in the good books of the BJP. He vehemently attacked the Congress and also asked his minister to prepare for early polls in November-December. According to Deccan Chronicle, while addressing a meeting at Telangana Bhavan on the occasion of a city Congress leader Danam Nagender joining the TRS, Mr Rao said, “We are ready for advance elections. Even people are ready for advance elections. I ask the Congress and other opposition parties to tell whether they are ready. If we go for elections, it will reveal whose strength is what and where each party stands”. He also added, “If Opposition parties don’t stop mudslinging on the TRS government, then we will be forced to go to polls to prove who the people are behind. That day is not very far off.” One of the main possible reasons for holding advance polls in Telangana is that the Congress is the main opposition to ruling TRS in Telangana. With Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh being fought alongside, the Congress will not be able to invest enough energy and resources in Telangana because their primary goal would be to defeat the BJP in other BJP ruling states. So, it might end up benefiting KCR. His remarks are very crucial from 2019 General elections point of view because he made these remarks immediately after his return to Hyderabad after attending the meeting with PM Modi in New Delhi last week. He even discussed the issue of holding early elections with Governor E.S.L Narasimhan.
After the meeting with PM Modi, KCR appeared satisfied with the Centre’s positive response to the wish-list of the state. And now, he is ready to be on the same boat with the BJP on a range of issues. However, KCR also appears to be more close to the BJP than to the Congress. In fact, he shared good vibes with BJP chief ministers such as Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh) at the Niti Aayog Governing Council meeting. Also surprisingly, according to Sunday Guardian live, KCR was the only non-NDA chief minister who extended full support to the Niti Aayog’s agenda for the next one year. PM Modi appeared positive towards Rao’s ambitious schemes for farmers and asked officials to get into the details of these schemes. KCR also showed positive signs regarding BJP’s request to extend his support to BJP’s candidate in the election for Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman post. Earlier KCR has already backed BJP’s candidate Ramnath Kovind for the post of the President. KCR maintained distance from non-BJP and non-Congress CM’s at the Niti Aayog meeting. He has also not extended any support to Arvind Kejriwal’s hunger strike against the Lieutenant governor last week. The most surprising thing was that KCR also avoided meeting with the West-Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and the Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, who were also in Delhi to attend the Niti Aayog meeting.
A few months ago, just after few meetings, KCR pitched the idea of the federal front but now it looks like KCR is putting some brake on his idea before the 2019 General elections. Now it seems KCR has realized that leading a federal front against the BJP is a futile exercise. PM Modi is still enjoying the good support of the people of India, the mood of the nation is with PM Modi.