Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has let the cat out of bag. He is still harbouring national ambitions when he said the federal front, which he floated ahead of last Lok Sabha polls, will come to power in the next elections. To begin with, he said he would bring all like-minded parties and the chief ministers under one umbrella to fight the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). He has already moved in for the big kill, after seeing a great opportunity to acquire a new persona for himself, in the uprising against the CAA.
The Shaheen Bagh Republic Day event in Delhi on Sunday bore testimony to the KCR’s ability to see beyond what the naked eye does not. He knows for sure that the protests that had spread like conflagration against the CAA will not die down any sooner, like the Australian bush fires and is positioning himself for the next elections.
Not one to waste time, he has already started the ball rolling by calling up chief ministers of the states who share his view that the CAA is like witches’ brew where two communities would always be in perpetual conflict. Reason for silence KCR had said he would call a meeting of the chief ministers and leaders of regional parties in Hyderabad soon to head a rally of people in lakhs to tell the BJP in unambiguous terms that the south does not think differently from north and that it would stand united against the “black law” because he believes it is highly discriminatory.
“I am against the CAA because it excludes Muslims. It is not good for the country,” KCR had said and recalled how the TRS had opposed it tooth and nail in Parliament when the Bill came up for discussion.
That KCR is an astute politician became clear on Saturday when he made his opposition to CAA very clear but only after knowing that his TRS had won a landslide victory in civic polls. Till then he was treading the ground as though it was made of eggshells, asking his lieutenants and legions not to make irresponsible comments against the CAA. After his MPs voted against the CAA, there was pregnant silence on the TRS front in contrast to the expectation that he would go to town in the state, taking BJP guts for the garters for the legislation that it had brought forth.
But there was a reason for his silence. He could not take any chances since he was preparing for the municipal elections. Telangana is a state where Muslim population is quite significant, in fact, it is about 12 per cent - he opposed the CAA in Parliament and thus endeared himself with the Muslims. When it came to the State, he kept quiet as he knows that if he overplays the game, he might alienate Hindus. He knows that a slip of tongue on a sensitive issue like the CAA could cost him as has happened in Lok Sabha elections where he lost four seats to the BJP for his “disparaging” remarks on Hindus. Just one comment — Hinduvulu, Bonduvulu — made the TRS apple cart go hurtling down the hill in three constituencies in north Telangana and in Secunderabad.
Going ballistic
Now that all the elections are behind him, he wants to take up the cause of forcing the BJP to repeal the CAA by playing a bigger role at the Centre. Now, he does not have to weigh his words before speaking them. He is already going ballistic against the BJP, but master-politician that KCR is, he says his opposition or support to the BJP would be on a case by case basis.
“We will have to government to government relations with the Centre but would not support if BJP takes any anti-people decision,” he had said. He has thus left a door ajar to be in a position to accept help from the ruling party at the Centre, should the need arise in the administration of the state. The federal front is again acquiring signs of life and it remains to be seen how KCR would navigate it through the choppy waters.
To begin with, the TRS supremo said he would bring all like-minded parties and the chief ministers under one umbrella to fight CAA. He has already moved in for the big kill, after seeing a great opportunity to acquire a new persona for himself, in the uprising against the CAA