Chief minister KCR banks on Telangana sentiment before polls

TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said, “This is our Telangana and we shall rule ourselves with self-respect, rather than waiting for decisions to be taken in Delhi.”

Telangana ‘sentiment’, which brought Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to power in the newly formed state in 2014 assembly elections, is likely to be its main poll plank again in the ensuing elections, albeit in a different form.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao waves to supporters during at a public rally on September 2.(HT Photo)

TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is all set to fight the coming elections, which are most likely to be advanced, on the political platform of safeguarding “Telangana self-respect”.

He indicated his strategy by raking up the “Tamil regionalism” sentiment at Sunday’s mega public meeting. “Like in Tamil Nadu, where people elect only the Tamil parties to power and never allow Delhi to thrust its decisions on them, the people of Telangana, too, should be able to take decisions on their own without looking up to Delhi,” he said.

He was referring to the political situation in Tamil Nadu, where the people have been electing either Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) or All India Anna DMK (AIADMK) to power in the state for the last several decades.

KCR said: “This is our Telangana and we shall rule ourselves with self-respect, rather than waiting for decisions to be taken in Delhi,” he said.

“During the Telangana movement, the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party and the BJP had their own political interests in both Telangana and Andhra. The TRS was the only party having the sole agenda of achieving statehood to Telangana region. That was why, the people of the Telangana voted the TRS to power,” reasoned KCR’s son and Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao.

He said the TRS, in the last four years, had achieved tremendous progress only because it had no other interests, except developing Telangana. “It would not have been the case had the Congress been voted to power in 2014. For every decision, it would have been forced to look up to Delhi,” KTR pointed out.

The Congress described this “Tamil regionalism” talk by KCR as a dangerous sign. “It is very much against the federal spirit of the nation. National parties had been in power in several states for several years and they have all been contributing to the development in their own way,” senior Congress leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy said.

Telangana BJP official spokesman Krishnasagar Rao said: “More than drawing political comparison, KCR is trying to compare himself with former Tamil Nadu CM late J Jayalalithaa, who was behaving like a monarch...,” he said.

Former Osmania University professor K Nageshwar said: “Tamil Nadu has a different political history. Its regionalism dates back to several decades with the emergence of Dravidian movement. KCR is trying to whip up regional passions this time, as Telangana sentiment is no more an election issue now,” he said.