HYDERABAD: Chief Minister and TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to launch his national party on October 5, though there is no official announcement yet. If developments are any indication, which include reports of Chief Minister’s rumoured visits to different temples and a TRS Legislature Party meeting on October 5, Rao is all set to make the big announcement on his “pan-India party” on the day of Vijaya Dasami.
According to sources, all arrangements are being made for the big occasion and Rao is also planning to visit three temples ahead of the all-important day. Revealing the details of TRS chief’s upcoming programme of events, a source said that the Chief Minister will be visiting Yadadri on Friday and Bhadrakali temple on Saturday. He will also perform pujas at Venkateswara Swamy temple at Konayapalli on October 3 before launching the national party. It may be mentioned here that Rao is sentimentally attached to Konayapalli and makes it a point to visit this temple every time he files nomination papers before elections.
Meanwhile, the TRS Legislature Party is expected to adopt a resolution at 11 am on October 5, requesting Rao to launch the national party. The TRS State executive meeting too will adopt a similar resolution at 12 noon on the same day, following which Rao will announce his party at 1 pm, sources added.
There were instructions to police officials to provide security at Telangana Bhavan on October 5. Sources added that the TRS will be converted into a national party and it will be rechristened Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) or Nava Bharat Party. The colour of the new party flag will be same as that of the existing TRS flag — pink but it will include India map.
KCR may hold public meet after launching nat’l party
After the launch of the party, Rao is likely to hold a public meeting in Delhi in the second week of October. Rao earlier sought the support of Janata Dal (Secular) when he called on its chief and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda in Bengaluru in May this year. Also present at the meeting were Gowda’s son former CM H D Kumarasway and grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy. At the time, Rao had stated that there would be a change at the national level and promised a “sensational announcement” in two-three months. Rao also enlisted former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s help in forming an anti-BJP front. NCP’s Sharad Pawar was another leader Rao reached out to.
Other leaders who Rao hopes will be on his side include RJD’s Laloo Yadav, his counterparts in Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Delhi — Nitish Kumar, MK Stalin and Arvind Kejriwal. KCR has so far avoided meeting any Congress leader in his efforts to build a “BJP-mukt Bharat”. The Congress is a TRS’ main rival in Telangana and it remains to be seen whether Rao’s new national party would have any alliance with the Congress or with the regional parties, which are in touch with the Congress.
However, the TRS sources said that Rao’s intention was to set an agenda for the nation and the issues of alliances would come only after the elections. It is worth mentioning here that Rao did not attend the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) rally held in Haryana’s Fatehabad. Leaders of some of the regional parties which attended the INLD rally were leaning towards the Congress. However, he has not criticised the grand old party at the national level or Sonia Gandhi leaving observers wondering if a pact with the Congress is likely at a later stage.
TRS Legislature Party to meet on Oct 5
The TRS Legislature Party is likely to adopt a resolution at 11 am on October 5, requesting Rao to launch the national party. The TRS State executive meeting too will adopt a similar resolution
at 12 noon on the same day