KCR meets Modi; SP and BSP cold to Front move

New Delhi: Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s quest for a “non-Congress, non-BJP” Federal Front remained elusive Wednesday, with key parties like the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party evading a meeting with him on his visit to New Delhi. The squeamishness of both regional satraps to take the anti-Congress plunge could possibly be linked to a resurgent Congress Party that has added three key states of the Hindi heartland to its kitty, making it a serious contender to lead any Opposition alliance in the run-up to 2019.

Mr Rao also paid a “courtesy” call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the first after his decisive victory in the Assembly polls, and discussed several projects and issues pertaining to the state government. The Telangana government said in a statement later that the PM had responded “positively” to Mr Rao’s requests.

The Telangana CM had recently met Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee soon after being sworn in for a second term as CM.

Sources in the TRS had indicated that as a follow-up to his meetings with Mr Patnaik and Ms Banerjee, Mr Rao had sought to meet SP president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati on December 25-26 to take forward his proposal of a Federal Front. But while Mr Yadav postponed the meeting, the BSP was yet to get back to the TRS leader. Speaking to the media in Lucknow, the SP chief said: “Efforts to bring all parties together have been ongoing for many months. I congratulate the Telangana chief minister for working in this direction. He has been trying to bring together a Federal Front. I will go to Hyderabad to meet him”.

He added: “The BJP has said many wrong words about us. Our whole aim is to keep the BJP away from the Centre. We also thank the Congress for not making a Samajwadi Party MLA a minister. They have cleared the way for us”.

The BSP chief, however, chose to remain silent. Both parties are looking at a tieup in Uttar Pradesh and are unlikely to take separate stands.

Top leaders of the Congress have said that the Telangana CM is along with BJD chief Naveen Patnaik the fallback option of the BJP in case it falls short of the magic number in the 2019 general election. The recent letter by a party functionary to the RSS in support of Union minister Nitin Gadkari as a PM probable can be seen in that frame as neither Mr Patnaik nor Mr Rao would be averse to supporting him.

However, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s problem is different. The West Bengal CM has an issue with the Congress leading an Opposition alliance as this would mean Rahul Gandhi getting a shot at being the PM, a position which she fancies for herself. Hence her warming up to KCR’s idea of a Federal Front.

Mr Rao also met Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday and discussed a variety of issues, including the release of funds for 10 backward districts, setting up of a separate high court for Telangana, Kendriya Vidyalayas in new districts and an IIIT in Karimnagar district. They also discussed pending projects.

A Telangana government statement said the CM had raised the question of the transfer of a polo ground land in Hyderabad for construction of a new secretariat, the release of '450 crores for backward districts and national status for the Kaleshwaram irrigation project.

Among others issues, Mr Rao discussed about referring Telangana’s petitions to Krishna River Water Disputes Resolutions Tribunal, resolution of bifurcation of Schedule 9 and 10 institutions under the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, sub-categorisation of the Scheduled Castes and the expeditious completion of railway projects.