After Telangana victory, KCR to launch new ''national party''

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, December 11

High on his landslide victory in Telangana assembly elections, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) has announced a new national party with consortium of regional parties for a “non-BJP, non-Congress” federal front.  

“Within the next ten days I will go to Delhi and announce the birth of a new national party, I have been in talks with many leaders, some of whom are at my residence as we talk to take this further”, he said at the victory celebration of his party this evening. 

Asked if he would continue to be chief minister of the state or hand over the reign to someone else, KCR said, “I have not thought about it yet, the election is just over my priority is to forge an alliance of the people for the people sans any silly party or politicians. I will think about it and make my decision known”. 

A politician who keeps his cards close to his chest, KCR’s utterance has given rise to lots of speculations about his next move. He however made it very clear that he would be actively participating in national politics as 60 years of independence has not led to any national development.
“There is a need for surgery; small injection will not set the plight of Indian economy and agriculture right. Telangana has shown the way that has been appreciated by top economists and agriculture scientists. There is need to replicate at the national level.”

Asked if it was not too late to float a front six months before the elections, KCR said, “I have been working on it for a long time. Everything is written out in black and white. The party we will float will have the participation of people as direct stake holders. The Constitution has to be amended to make it practical. The concurrent list must go and the role of the centre and the states must be clearly defined. I have models to revive the economy and agriculture based on productivity and not merely on produce, as it’s been done (now). India has the potential to feed the world, but the Congress and BJP have failed the people”.

He said he would play a crucial role in national politics and give a new direction to national political scene. “This national forum is not an alignment of political parties. That has been tried and it failed. The political system has failed its people. I have no hesitation in saying that the Supreme Court too has given a wrong judgement on reservation issues, it has crossed its limits and gone beyond the constitution limit reservation quota.”

"You will see a new beginning in politics very shortly," he said. Reacting to the Congress party's victory in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, KCR said this happened because there was no other alternative to the BJP. "India needs to come out of this routine. We are going to unite polity and people of India," he said.

Elaborating further he said, “The federal front will be of people and not political parties. I propose to have an alliance of the people of India not politicians. Very soon, say within the next ten days I will go to Delhi and announce this new alliance”

He ruled out working with Chandrababu Naidu-led alliance as an alternative to the BJP, saying: “We are clear it will be non-BJP, non-Congress party”. And in lighter vein he said: “I want progress of all Telugu people, so I will go to Andhra Pradesh to give a return gift to Naidu, who was in Telangana for the alliance campaign”.