Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao’s much-touted meetings with prominent regional parties did not happen on Wednesday even as his “Federal Front” received a lukewarm support from the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav.
A number of reports had heralded his prospective meetings with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati. KCR, however, met only Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in what was described as purely an official visit where development works with regard to Telangana were discussed.
SP leader lauds effort
“Telangana Chief Minister has been trying to bring together a federal front. I will go to Hyderabad to meet him,” said Akhilesh, tacitly conveying his displeasure with the Congress, which had refused to accommodate the sole SP MLA in Madhya Pradesh in the State Cabinet.
Rao’s “Federal Front” is touted as a coalition meant to keep equal distance from both the Congress and the BJP in the upcoming elections.
The last fortnight, the Telengana CM has been on a nation-wide tour, meeting Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik. He described his meeting with Banerjee as “very fruitful”.
The “Federal Front” is seen by observers as a pipe-dream and an instrument which will be used by ambitious regional players such as Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav to rein in the Congress’ expansion in their turfs. Without a national party — either the Congress or the BJP — such a front is not a realistic or a viable political entity in the Lok Sabha elections, they feel.
For KCR, who broake away from the BJP in order to consolidate the considerable minority vote in his State just before the Assembly elections, he would like to keep the Congress contained in the Lok Sabha polls, where voting patterns are different from the Assembly elections.
While the possibility of KCR joining any coalition led either by the BJP or the Congress after the general elections cannot be ruled out, the Telangana CM would like to be sure of getting enough seats to be in a position to make a hard bargain at the Centre.
For that purpose, at least theoretically, it suits him as well as the regional players to play along for the sake of posturing in the election year.