HYDERABAD: Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya’s reported resignation from the Union cabinet and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s sudden visit to the national capital ahead of the cabinet rejig has once again fuelled the speculation over the possibility of the TRS joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s team.
With Dattatreya being shown the door, political circles in the State are agog with remours on who will replace the BJP veteran in the Modi cabinet.
While some are hopeful that party national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao may be asked to fill the berth vacated by Dattatreya, some others in the party express doubts that this opportunity could be utilised by the BJP central leadership to forge an “alliance” with the TRS by inducting its member into the Union cabinet ahead of the 2019 election.
Interestingly, there are quite contradictory views among the BJP leaders as to who will represent Telangana in the Modi cabinet after the expected reshuffle.
Some senior leaders of the party in the State say that Dattatreya could not discharge his ministerial duties effectively, given his age. BJP national president Amit Shah wants a young face to represent the party and state in the Union cabinet to prepare the party cadres for the 2019 elections.
“I believe that our party’s central leadership might be preferring Muralidhar Rao’s candidature for the Union minister post as Rao is being considered by the party cadres as the next-generation leader to lead the party in the state. As Rao is not an MP right now, party leadership may have to send him to the Rajya Sabha from any other state,” a BJP leader commented.
Differing from this, another leader said this development could be an indication that TRS may join the Union cabinet.
“Amit Shah’s proposed tour of Telangana, scheduled to be held from Sept 10 to 12, has been cancelled. And now, Dattatreya has been dropped from the cabinet. As no other person from our party represents the state in both Houses of Parliament at present, I suspect that dropping of Dattatreya and KCR’s sudden visit to Delhi is not a mere coincidence. This gives scope to the belief that KCR’s daughter and TRS MP K Kavitha may be made Union minister, if a deal is made between the two parties,” a BJP lawmaker said.