KCR likely to campaign for SP in UP polls
The TRS has been maintaining good relations with the SP whose chief Akhilesh Yadav met Chandrashekar Rao in Pragathi Bhavan in May 2018
HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is planning to campaign in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in support of the Samajwadi Party (SP).
There is a buzz in party circles that the Chief Minister has discussed the issue with a few senior leaders and obtained their feedback.
Party sources said the Chief Minister wants to seek the support of Telugu-speaking voters and those from the southern states who are settled in UP, for the Samajwadi Party. If campaigning is not allowed due to Covid restrictions, then the Chief Minister wants to write open letters to voters and make statements through the media.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has been maintaining good relations with the Samajwadi Party whose chief Akhilesh Yadav met Chandrashekar Rao in Pragathi Bhavan in May 2018 to discuss the proposed Federal Front against the NDA and the UPA.
The political war between the TRS and the BJP has intensified after the Huzurabad bypoll in November which the ruling party lost. The row over paddy procurement led to a political slugfest between the parties. The row over teacher and employee transfers took the battle between the two to a new high.
Since then BJP's national leaders and Union ministers are visiting Telangana frequently and attacking the TRS government and the Chief Minister. TRS leadership feels that if the BJP wins UP Assembly polls, it will further step up activities in Telangana with a focus on the 2023 Assembly elections. The TRS leadership strongly feels that only Samajwadi Party has the strength to dethrone the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.
After the Dubbak and Huzurabad bypoll victories, and its showing in the GHMC polls, the BJP is projecting itself as the alternative to the TRS.
Already, BJP president J.P. Nadda and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh and Raman Singh, former CM of Chhattisgarh, have visited Hyderabad over the past four days to extend support to BJP Telangana president Bandi Sanjay Kumar who was arrested for undertaking a deeksha against the TRS government on employees transfers. The visit of BJP's top leaders boosted the morale of the BJP Telangana unit. The top BJP leaders are giving a call to the Telangana unit to intensify agitations until the TRS government is pulled down in 2023 Assembly polls.
Against this backdrop, the Chief Minister is keenly watching the Assembly polls in UP, Punjab and other states and devising strategies on what could be done from the TRS side to contain the BJP in these elections.