KCR’s plans and opposition unity
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is dreaming big. He wants to set an economic and political agenda for the entire nation. At the TRS plenary on Wednesday in Hyderabad, he changed his tack saying that he is not interested in “tents or fronts” but was keen on empowering people. He argued that he couldn’t care less about who would become the next prime minister or how the BJP could be brought down and that he only wanted to empower people. He is calling a conference of economists of international repute for solutions to the country’s ills followed by a conclave of retired IAS officers to help him fit them into a model that suits India.
The chief minister has several ideas up his sleeve for taking the nation on the fast track to development. Even if the people are convinced, they should have a way to express their opinions, and to facilitate this, he appears to be thinking about floating a national party, Bharat Rashtra Samiti, which is indicative of his intention to lead the opposition parties by virtue of being the first to author an alternative agenda for the nation.
For the moment, he does not want to speak about Opposition unity as Mamata Banerjee, M K Stalin, Sharad Pawar and other leaders of their ilk are working in consort with the Congress with which he cannot be friendly at least till the next Assembly elections in 2023. This is because the presence of both the BJP and the Congress in the electoral fray would be advantageous to him. Then he may join hands with the Congress to campaign against the BJP and its agenda. The Assembly elections later next year will be an important moment for his plan. But emerging unscathed there is only the first step. The Lok Sabha elections will be the litmus test for him in taking his national agenda forward.