HYDERABAD: In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, profoundly seen as a battle between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AICC chief Rahul Gandhi, have much room for regional parties? The TRS working president KT Rama Rao, while speaking to select media houses here on Thursday, affirms that regional parties are also capable of having a national outlook and that they need not wear a ‘national party’ tag to have an agenda pertaining to the entire nation.
The pink party’s star campaigner is said to intensify his poll campaign starting with his very own constituency, Sircilla, on Friday. He is set to address more than 24 roadshows and several public meetings across State until April 9. Here are the excerpts from his interview:
In the battle between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, what would TRS’ role be?
The common notion that regional parties do not have a national agenda is inherently wrong. A political party does not have to be a central party to have a national outlook. The TRS government has supported the families of soldiers killed in the Pulwama attack, helped people affected by natural calamities in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and others states. The BJP and the Congress, are in fact, just bigger regional parties in some sense. The BJP has no presence in the South, except in Karnataka while the Congress is limited to just four states. Let’s put it this way: while the Congress and the BJP are like bigger regional parties, the TRS is a small regional party.
If the TRS has a national agenda, then why did it not react to the Triple Talaq issue?
The Triple Talaq issue was brought to the national forefront by just one party — the BJP — and was opposed by another party — the Congress — primarily to garner votes. We are not going to look at the Triple Talaq issue just for votes.
The Congress party had alleged that the TRS won the Assembly polls due to EVM tampering. Further, they also won the Council polls for which ballot papers were used. Comments?
The Congress is blaming the EVMs for its defeat in the Assembly polls. At the same time, they had also won Assembly elections in other states where EVMs were used. If the results are against the mandate of the people, they will revolt against it. When NTR was dethroned from power, people were up in arms. Congress should respect the peoples’ mandate. As far as the TRS party is concerned, it does not matter if it was ballot papers or EVMs that were used. Ballots were used in the 2010 by-elections but around 25,000 votes were invalid in Sircilla at that time. Taking that into consideration, using ballot papers in Nizamabad may affect the victory margin of the TRS.
Rumours of your cousin and former Minister T Harish Rao being sidelined by the party have been doing rounds for a while now, especially since he was not given a Cabinet post. Comments?
People must understand that I am also not in the Cabinet now. Do you think I have also been sidelined by the party? When I had first joined the party, I had worked like any other ordinary party worker. At that time, Harish was given a prominent post. Right now, both of us are out of the Cabinet. Some people are making an issue out of nothing. One should remember that nobody is indispensable in a democracy. Both Harish and I will do the job the party entrusts us with, whatever it may be.
You had mentioned that your father K Chandrasekhar Rao has the capability of becoming the Prime Minister. In case that materialises, will you step into his shoes and become the Chief Minister of State?
I had only said that KCR has the capacity to lead the nation. In actuality, I wish for him to lead the State of Telangana for the next 10 to 15 years. I have no illusions, I am fortunate enough to be in the TRS party and do not have any grand ambition or plans.
In the event of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu getting into the race for the Prime Minister post after the elections, will the TRS party support him?
The stark reality is that the people of Andhra Pradesh are going to defeat the TDP in the Assembly elections. Naidu has no role to play in national politics. He will not even have any role to play in AP post elections. Naidu’s manipulative skills and his ability to fool people are not going to work anymore. Though the TRS is not contesting the AP elections, Naidu keeps uttering the our Chief Minister’s name more than NTR himself. The same leader tried to forge an alliance with the TRS in the Assembly polls. When we refused to have an alliance with him, he began attacking KCR.
There have been numerous allegations of the TRS becoming the B-team of the BJP. Comments?
When Narendra Modi visits Hyderabad, he keeps alleging that TRS is a B-team of the Congress. Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, says that TRS is the B-team of the BJP. We (TRS) are not subordinate to anyone anymore. In fact, we are the A-team and the only team true to the people of Telangana.