The political churn taking place in West Bengal is giving sleepless nights to KCR in Hyderabad. As West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who just like him is equidistant from both the BJP and INC, finds herself in the backfoot ahead of the Assembly polls, Telangana CM KCR has put a screeching halt on his plans to foray into national politics until the results of the West Bengal elections.
Deccan Chronicle reports that TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to wait till the results of the upcoming Assembly polls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala before deciding his next move.
It is being reported that based on the outcome, KCR would decide whether he should take the plunge in national politics or not. A resounding win for the BJP will likely see KCR staying put in Telangana and battle to save his chair in the 2023 Telangana polls after BJP’s stunning performance in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election.
It is pertinent to note that KCR is yet to lay the foundation stone for the TRS’ office in Delhi, with the Centre allotting the land way back in October 2020. In fact, even when KCR tented up in Delhi to meet both PM Modi and HM Shah post the GHMC results, he didn’t lay the foundation stone of TRS’ proposed Vasant Vihar office.
Seeing the way BJP has played the Abhishek Banerjee card in West Bengal and triggered a mass exodus from the TMC by cornering the party over nepotism, KCR abandoned his plans to pass on the chair of Telangana CM to his son, KT Rama Rao.
Read More: The fear of Modi-Shah makes KCR abandon the dreams of making his Son the CM of Telangana
A few weeks ago, the political corridors of Telangana were abuzz with the talks that KCR would soon give the CM chair to son to move the politics of central government. In January, a senior cabinet minister said, “Yes, the next CM is KTR. It will happen mostly in February. They are discussing within their family. Many changes will take place in the cabinet too.”
Commenting on the development, Health Minister Etela Rajender had said, “There is a chance (of transfer of power), why not? There is nothing wrong with it. Ninety-nine per cent of the programmes are being reviewed by KTR in our government. He also participated in the COVID-19 vaccination programme on the behalf of his father, the Chief Minister.”
However, KCR, who was dreaming of the PM chair a few years ago, sensed that by making his son the Chief Minister, he will be handing a golden opportunity to the BJP as seen in West Bengal and hence, later back tracked on his earlier decision.
The Prime Ministerial ambitions of KCR were crushed by Modi-Shah in the 2019 general election when the saffron party not only came to parliament with only an even greater number of seats but also won four seats (out of 17) and around 20 per cent of votes in Telangana.
BJP performed exceptionally well in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election as well and TRS was reduced to only 56 seats (out of 150) compared to the 99 seats in the last election while BJP surged from four to 48 seats.
KCR who post the GHMC elections and meeting with PM Modi, has been siding with the Modi government on most of the issues, is aware that his situation is quite similar to Mamata and TMC in Bengal.
Both KCR and Mamata are battling a strong wave of anti-incumbency and both are heavily reliant on minority votes against a resurgent BJP who had negligible presence in their respective states just a couple of years ago. Both the regional satraps also have to counter the AIMIM who has the potential to corner a large chunk of the minority votes. A defeat for Mamata Banerjee would only mean a sign of things to come for KCR and TRS in the near future and hence, KCR has decided to link his political future to the results of West Bengal Assembly elections.