The Stars Favour KCR

Kommineni Srinivasa Rao

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has been successful in fulfilling his mission of dissolving the Assembly and going in for fresh elections. He has gone one step ahead and announced the list of candidates for 105 constituencies true to his style of functioning. Dissolving the assembly is certainly a gamble and it appears that KCR is clear about the risk involved. There is little doubt now that Telangana would go in for elections along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Mizoram in November, December this year. It is evident that KCR is confident of his success and would have conducted surveys to the effect. In addition to this, he would have also noticed the opposition to TRS consolidating and gaining in strength. This could be one of the reasons behind his snap decision. Moreover, if the Assembly elections are clubbed with Lok Sabha polls to be held next year, the TRS leadership would not be able to highlight the strides made by the new state since it took over. KCR will continue to be a caretaker chief minister.

Another facet to this entire exercise is that the opposition between BJP and Congress is likely to get intensified in the Lok Sabha polls and if the Muslim minorities move towards the Congress opposing the BJP, that could be of disadvantage to the ruling TRS. He thought it necessary therefore to surmount all these hurdles by advancing the elections. As a first step he conducted the Pragathi Nivedana Sabha on Sunday which was seen as a show of strength. In the subsequent days, he is reported to have taken certain key decisions and cleared over a thousand files in two days. Another rumour doing the rounds is that after KCR returns to power, he might pass on the reigns to his son and move to the Centre himself. This is possible if Lok Sabha and Assembly polls are held separately. It is also clear that KCR wants to strengthen his grip on national politics. He has started making his presence felt in national, political circles over the past few months. Analysts say that he could well emerge as a deputy prime minister in the next government. However, it is obvious that KCR has created history by taking this momentous decision of dissolving the current Assembly and going in for elections.

In 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sought the dissolution of the Lok Sabha to go in for fresh elections. She destroyed what used to be the old guard of the Congress. Fast forward to 1984 when NTR was dethroned by Nadella Bhaskar Rao. In a dramatic manner, NTR returned to power in a month and went in for dissolution of the Assembly. His decision proved to be a favourable one for him. In 1989, however, when NTR sought to dissolve the Assembly to go in for elections along with the Lok Sabha polls of the time, he had to taste defeat. When NTR was dethroned by Chandrababu Naidu who stabbed his father-in-law in the back in 1995, the governor of the day Krishnakanth did not heed his request for dissolution of the Assembly. The general opinion is that Chandrababu Naidu struck a deal with the prime minister of the period, PV Narasimha Rao. In the end, NTR lost leadership of both government and the party.

in the 2003 Alipiri bomb blast, Chandrababu Naidu escaped with minor injuries and assuming that there was sympathy for him in the hearts of the people, he recommended dissolution of the Assembly. However, his plot went awry. In 2004, Chandrababu had to face defeat and Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy became the chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh. He completed his term of five years thus creating a record in the history of the state. His untimely demise led to the division of the state. In such circumstances for KCR to go in for early elections is indeed a historic decision and while there are varying predictions about the likely outcome it is possible that the stars may favour KCR as he rightly feels.

Also Read: KCR Finalises TRS MLA Candidates For 105 Constituencies