Hyderabad: The comments made by TRS MP B. Vinod Kumar, a close associate of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, indicate that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leadership would favour the Congress rather than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a post-election scenario.
According to Mr Vinod Kumar, the Congress will get more than 100 seats in the current Lok Sabha elections and the BJP would not be able to get more than 170 seats.
He said with the support of the Congress, the Federal Front will form the government just like the United Front government backed by the Congress in 1996.
He also said that the Federal Front would have no option but to take the support of the Congress to form the government. Mr Kumar was with the Telangana Chief Minister when he met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday to discuss the Federal Front.
Mr Rao is getting the opinions of his party’s senior members on the strategy that needs to be adopted in the absence of a clear majority by any national party.
According to TRS insiders, some senior leaders have suggested that it would be better to support the Congress’ Rahul Ga-ndhi for Prime Minister rather than Narendra Modi if the Federal Front government was not possible. Sources said Mr Rao is inclined to agree.
Except for one or two, the majority of regional parties are opposed to the BJP and have a soft corner for the Congress.
According to a senior leader, “Though some parties have no love for the Congress, they will support it in order to stall the BJP from forming the government at the Centre again.”
For regional parties like the DMK, Nationalist Con-gress Party, Samajwadi, BSP, Janata Dal (S) and the Trinamool Congress, the BJP is a bitter enemy.
If a non-BJP and non-Congress front is not possible, they will support the Congress in forming the government, the TRS leader said.
In Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam will support the Congress, while its main rival, the YSR Congress has always held that it will support any party at the Centre that grants special category status to AP. The Congress had already announced that it will grant special status to AP if voted to power, while the BJP has categorically said that it is not possible to grant special status to AP or to any other state.
The Left parties too will prefer the Congress to the BJP, while Odisha Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik is maintaining an equal distance between the BJP and Congress.
As per sources, the TRS will take a decision whether to take the support of the Congress or to support the Congress, after the Lok Sabha results are announced, and depending on the seats won by the Congress and the regional parties that are likely to support the Federal Front.
