HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s plans to forge an alternative political front will not be about making a simple hotchpotch arrangement of non-BJP and non-Congress parties. Instead, the TRS supremo is quietly preparing a new agenda for the nation -- one that will usher in ‘massive economic, judicial and constitutional reforms’, and be binding on and acceptable to the people.
Sources close to the Chief Minister have revealed that, instead of thinking on the routine lines on sharing of power among partners of the Front based on their electoral performances, focus will be on issues like devolution of power and funds to States and leveraging the economy. “There will be a major shift of focus from plain politics to economics,” the sources said.
As a precursor to that, KCR is planning a mega launch for the concept paper on his alternative model of economic agenda. Sources told Express that the Chief Minister is currently working out the details, in consultation with reputed economists. A significant part of this alternative model will be lessons learnt from the Telangana Experiment, that he plans to replicate at the national stage.
Chandrasekhara Rao is of the view that any political front that does not offer an alternative economic model might be seen as merely anchoring for power and therefore it’s significant that a non-Congress/BJP formation should be built on larger issues concerning the nation, and not merely on political expediency. Obviously, this view stems from the fact that the country had many experiences in the past when fronts and coalitions formed since 1977 failed to come up with significant reforms in governance and thereby failed to capture the imagination of people.
Experts who confabulated with KCR are understood to have pointed out that one of the major failures of the Indian economic model has been the inability to scale up good ideas to a global level unlike the Asian Tigers. In China, for instance, any new economic idea is first tried and tested first; once found viable it’s scaled up on a national level and becomes a global model.
His strongest views, though, are on devolution of power from Centre to States. “He feels there is no need for a concurrent list on the Constitution. It’s aimed at denying powers to States and allowing the Centre to interfere in almost all subjects. He is of the view that the Centre should confine itself to External Affairs, Defence, Communications and Internal Security,” said sources. Rao is also of the view that major changes are required in the Constitution to keep abreast of changing times. The concept paper is likely to be released in the next two or three months