Telangana CM invited to SP’s UP campaign

Hyderabad: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been invited by the Samajwadi Party to join the polls campaign for Uttar Pradesh, a senior leader of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti told HT here on Sunday

Hyderabad: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been invited by the Samajwadi Party to join the polls campaign for Uttar Pradesh, a senior leader of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti told HT here on Sunday.

The invitation fits among K Chandrasekhar Rao’s attempts to form a non-Congress and non-Bharatiya Janata Party front at the national level before the next general election. (ANI)

“We have received a request from Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, asking KCR to campaign for his party in the Uttar Pradesh elections. The party is discussing the same and the chief minister will take a call,” senior Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader and state planning board vice-chairman B Vinod Kumar,said.

The invitation fits among Rao’s attempts to form a non-Congress and non-Bharatiya Janata Party front at the national level before the next general elections, Kumar said.

According to Kumar, the chief minister held a meeting with senior TRS leaders to discuss Yadav’s request on Sunday afternoon. “A decision on whether KCR should take part in the campaign directly or through virtual mode will be taken keeping in view the present Covid-19 pandemic situation,” a senior TRS functionary familiar with the development said.

If the situation is conducive, Rao could participate in the UP campaign in the third and fourth phases of elections, the party leader said.

On Thursday, TRS working president and Rao’s son K T Rama Rao, in an interaction with his social media followers on Twitter, indicated that his party might join the election campaign for SP in the run-up to the UP assembly elections.

“We shall take a call soon after consultations within the party. The current trend in UP favours Samajwadi Party,” he had said in reply to a question by a follower.

Off-late, TRS supremo Rao has been mounting a no-holds-barred attack on the BJP and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

On December 14, Rao held talks with his Tamil Nadu counterpart and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M K Stalin to discuss the possibility of a floating third front, comprising regional parties and like-minded national parties, including the Left.

He followed it up with a meeting with the national leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India on January 8. He hosted lunch for them and held discussions about the need to build up a third alternative to the Congress and the BJP at the national level by next elections.

Senior CPI (M) leaders including national general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, former Tripura chief minister Manik Sircar, CPI (M) politburo members Ramachandran Pillai and Balakrishna, besides CPI national general secretary D Raja, CPI parliamentary party leader and Kerala MP Binay Viswam and Kerala revenue minister Rajan and others held deliberations with KCR.

According to a senior TRS leader, the chief minister brought to the notice of the Left party leaders that the Congress was not in a position to project itself as a strong opponent of the BJP and hence, there is a need for a third alternative political force in the country.

On January 11, a delegation of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, led by Bihar leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav, met Rao in Hyderabad. According to functionaries familiar with developments, Rao also spoke to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad about efforts to form the third front.

Before 2019 general elections, too, the TRS chief made similar attempts on the formation of a “federal front” of regional parties. Apart from Stalin and Akhilesh Yadav, KCR had discussions with Janata Dal (S) president H D Deve Gowda, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Hemanth Soren.

The federal front proposal, however, did not take off, as Stalin, Soren and Pawar ruled out the possibility of a front without the Congress.