Alliance moves: KCR's timing looks surprising

The template of the future is still in the works, although pre-positioning moves are on by several players in our politics. In this situation it is not quite clear why Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao chose this moment recently to give a fresh impetus to the formation of an anti-BJP and anti-Congress front.

The Congress had just bested the BJP in one-on-one contests in three Hindi heartland states long thought to be the saffron party’s stamping ground. This drew a wary reaction from regional parties with which the Congress can be potentially in alliance, but none of them has given a hint that they would now take on an anti-Congress or non-Congress posture. It is these very elements that KCR desires to collaborate with.

It seems evident that all concerned are waiting to see what the final tally in the Lok Sabha election will be. Until then, leaders such as Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and Sharad Pawar, while making their ambition to be Prime Minister obliquely known, are playing their cards close to their chest.

Key regional players on the “secular” side of the political divide get their antennae up when the Congress begins to make winning strides. They fear such a process might challenge their own hegemony in their respective regions. This is why, for now, they are content to indirectly put the word out that Rahul Gandhi is not acceptable to them as PM. The exceptions are the two leading southern leaders, Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu and DMK chief M.K. Stalin.

On the whole, it is a waiting game that is going on. KCR’s explicit moves have therefore drawn curiosity in some cases and derision in others. The Congress and the TDP have been openly caustic, with the former denouncing Mr Rao’s party TRS as being a B-team, or hanger-on of the BJP. Mr Naidu said that his Telangana counterpart had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi to “report” to him on how far he was getting to scuttle the formation of an anti-BJP front.

But more interestingly, Mr Rao did not receive the response he may have expected in Kolkata, with Ms Banerjee keeping mum on the whole. In New Delhi, BSP supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav ducked meeting him. The TRS leader was received warmly by Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, but soon after he departed Bhubaneswar, Mr Patnaik wrote to Mr Naidu — who is openly seeking to help fabricate the anti-BJP platform — expressing criticism of the BJP.

Before the BJP’s massive win in 2014, regional parties had already begun to show their interest in playing a role at the Centre as well. This has again been revived. The more experienced hands are biding their time but the Telanagana leader has revealed his hand in his overenthusiasm.