KCR's one-on-one with Modi at 7 Race Course Road sets political circles abuzz
Hyderabad: As expected, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi has led to buzz, both in media and political circles. Given the unpredictability synonymous with the TRS chief, speculations, rumours and predictions are the order of the day. The meeting by itself was a departure from the normal, with Mr Rao going alone to 7 Race Course Road and being closetted with Modi for over an hour. The timing of the meeting with Modi was also of political significance – it came in the backdrop of the TRS sweeping the Warangal Lok Sabha and GHMC polls besides welcoming TD MLAs into the TRS on a large scale.
It is a stated policy of Mr Rao that he wants a “total wipe out” of the TD from Telangana. Having achieved a remarkable margin of success in fulfilling this wish, he is now said to be devising ways to further weaken the Congress and the BJP in the state. Immediately after his meeting with Modi, there was speculation in a section of the vernacular media that Mr Rao was inclined towards a tie-up with the NDA at the Centre and was bargaining for Cabinet berths.
The ‘news’ created confusion in the BJP and Congress camps and both parties started ‘analysing’ Mr Rao’s moves. Earlier, TRS and MIM did have some understanding in the GHMC polls, but not officially. The CM, though optimistic about a clean sweep in the GHMC polls, was not willing to overlook the possibility that MIM support might become necessary. However, even to the TRS camp managers’ surprise, the TRS came in second place in some Old City divisions dominated by the MIM and actually won a few divisions that had been dominated by Muslims, pipping the MIM to the post.
TRS also hit BJP in its strongholds. This victory was attributed to his grand-scale organisation of the Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagam just a few days before the GHMC polls. Post GHMC polls, the TRS is now at crossroads. It has the support of both Muslim minorities and Hindus alike. Similarly it has the support of pro-Telangana as well as Seemandhra voters. After completion of elections to Warangal and Khammam municipal corporations, there are no polls scheduled in TS till the 2019 general elections.
It is this factor that has given rise to some quite interesting questions. Is the TRS inclined to join the NDA government just to get more funds for the state and two to three Union Cabinet berths, thereby facing the wrath of Muslim minorities who have significant presence in a number of constituencies in the state. Will the TRS “wipe out” both the TD and BJP in TS by 2019 and strike a deal with the only formidable opposition party left, the Congress, by giving away a few seats to ensure a massive win for itself. After the massive wins by TRS, a few Congress leaders had started murmuring that it would be better for their party to enter into a seat sharing agreement with the TRS, rather than contesting alone and losing.
