CHENNAI: The official Twitter handle of Telangana CMO (@TelanganaCMO) tweeted on Tuesday that DMK president Chief Minister MK Stalin would share the stage with his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao during the inauguration of that state’s new secretariat on February 17. The Tamil Nadu government, however, is yet to respond to this.
According to the tweet, the new secretariat, named after BR Ambedkar, would be inaugurated by KCR on February 17 morning. With him would be TN CM MK Stalin, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, JDU national president Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh, representatives of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and others. They would later attend a massive public meeting on Secunderabad parade grounds.
Notably, KCR, who has been lobbying most regional and Left parties to form a national third front as an alternative to the BJP and the Congress, is now inviting leaders of Congress allies. Commenting on the matter, a state-level leader of the DMK told TNIE that it was not clear whether Stalin agreed to visit Telangana. “That said, even if he agreed, it won’t be wrong given that KCR too opposes the BJP vehemently ... Moreover, Stalin already has a cordial relationship with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal despite the DMK being an ally of the Congress in TN. We want to bring all non-BJP parties and leaders under one umbrella. Later, based on needs, they can extend support to a non-BJP Union government, whichever it be,” he said.
News about the event comes a few days after KCR organised a large public meeting at Khammam in Telangana on January 18 with an aim to project himself as a national leader after he converted Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) into Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which has become a national party. The meeting was attended by the CMs of many non-BJP ruled states—Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala, Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi and Bhagwant Mann of Punjab.
In the meeting, KCR said the BJP and the Congress were trying to shift to each other the blame for India’s dismal conditions. Commenting the matter, Congress general secretary GK Murali told TNIE that Stalin could not be faulted for attending the programme. Even if he attended it, he would surely underline the importance of the Congress in any effort to unseat the BJP from the Centre.
Cong caught in a bind?
KCR, who has been lobbying most regional and Left parties to form a national third front as an alternative to the BJP and the Congress, is now inviting leaders of Congress allies.