KCR'S GRAND AMBITION

HIS EYE ON A ‘LARGER’ ROLE, KCR GUNS FOR A HAT-TRICK IN TELANGANA

- Amarnath K. Menon

More than three years after proposing the formation of a federal front of regional parties and going around the country meeting chief ministers from such parties, Telangana chief minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) founder-president K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) has now taken to painting a grander canvas. “Not a political realignment, but a qualitative change and an alternative agenda are what the country needs right now,” he said at the party’s 21st foundation day on April 27. His next words were laced with meaning: “If Hyderabad becomes the site of such a change in the country’s direction, it will be a proud moment for the people of Telangana.” Speaking at the party plenary, attended by around 3,000 members, KCR waxed eloquent about the prospect of scaling up to a national role, maybe even transforming the TRS into the ‘Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi’. Pursuit of such an ambition, of course, hinges on the TRS wresting the Telangana assembly for a third time—a feat that would be a first for any regional party in the south. Conversely, the grander gestures seem part of an attempt to accomplish just that.

With the election mood setting in already, there is speculation that KCR may call for the assembly poll to be held months before it is due in December 2023, just like he did in 2018 before completing his full first term as CM. At one level, this would be a way to beat back the growing anti-incumbency. Having realised, perhaps, that invoking the sacrifices that went into achieving statehood for Telangana may have run its limit, KCR has hired the Indian Political Affairs Committee (I-PAC) of poll strategist Prashant Kishor to try and turn the tide with some good, old propaganda.