JOIN USKC Rao dumps Third Front for NDA
The TRS, an important constituent of the Front comprising the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the two Left parties, had raised plenty of eyebrows by aligning with the TDP which was strongly opposed to the Telangana state.
However, having fought the election as part of the alliance and perhaps benefiting from the votes of the entrenched, cadre-based parties like the TDP, CPI and the CPM, the TRS did a somersault and participated in the NDA public rally in Ludhiana, Punjab on Sunday.
TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) had earlier announced that his party would be joining the NDA. He shared the dais with the entire top brass of NDA leaders.
In 2004, the TRS had fought the elections in alliance with the Congress which promised to create a separate Telangana state. But, when the UPA government dilly-dallied, the TRS walked out of the UPA government accusing the Congress of betrayal. The flipflop of TRS comes in the background of the BJP promising to create Telangana within 100 days of the NDA coming into power. A favourite line of TRS chief has been that he would join hands with anybody to achieve the goal of a separate Telangana.
By joining the NDA, KCR will fuel insecurity in the sizeable Muslim population in the region. In fact, one of the reasons Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy cited for not agreeing to a separate state was that the Muslims were against it as they felt they would be more vulnerable in a small state.
Meanwhile, a shocked CPI Sunday termed it as “a betrayal of secular parties”. “It is unfortunate… It is a betrayal of people of Telengana… It is a betrayal of the secular parties and people who supported the TRS during the elections,” said S Sudhakar Reddy, deputy general secretary of the CPI.
“If he wanted to join the NDA, he should have done it before the elections. This is unethical. But his decision to join the NDA is not a jolt to us,” said Reddy, putting on a brave face.
Congress leaders of Telangana have condemned KCR saying he had joined the NDA after the elections as he wanted to ‘reap’ the Muslim votes.
Justifying the move, TRS leader and MP B Vinod Kumar said: “Akali Dal has been supporting us and a separate Telanga state for the last many years. It has openly and categorically given an open letter to the Pranab Mukherjee committee supporting Telangana. In these circumstances, definitely we are going to support the Akali Dal. If this meant joining the rally and sharing the dias with the NDA, the TRS would do it.” The TRS has been distrustful of the TDP as believed that it could dump the party if it was in a position to form the government on its own. That is why the TRS is displaying its admiration for the BJP policy on creating new states.