KTR’s Elevation, A Master Stroke!

By K Ramachandra Murthy

All the cars owned by the leaders of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in Telangana districts jam-packed the posh areas of Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills in Hyderabad for several days making the life of the commuters miserable. From the day (December 11) the election results were announced, there was no let-up in celebrations or show of loyalty to the Family.

The results were followed by the swearing-in of Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) as chief minister for the second time and Mohammad Mahmood Ali, former deputy chief minister. The unexpected announcement made by KCR appointing his son Kalvakuntla Tarak Rama Rao (KTR) as working president of the party created extra energy in the second rung leaders and workers who scrambled to get an opportunity to congratulate the young leader.

Then came the oath-taking by KTR as working president of TRS. More than twenty thousand workers participated in a procession from KTR’s residence to TRS Bhavan, the party’s headquarters, causing traffic jams. The brouhaha over the results and oath-taking had continued for more than a week. Some semblance of order was restored only after seven days, on Monday.

Congress Leaders Swept Away

Though most of the political pundits said TRS would win hands down and KCR would form the government in spite of former MP Lagapati Rajagopal’s pronouncements that the People’s Front would win 70 seats, the margin of victory was unexpected. No one, except India Today-Axis survey, gave TRS more than 70 seats. TRS won 88 out of the total 119 seats and two independents did not wait for the oath before joining the ruling party.

Many Congress MLAs are reportedly eager to join the TRS bandwagon. The wind in favour of the TRS had not only given a landslide to the ruling party but it also swept away most of the chief ministerial aspirants in the Congress such as Jana Reddy, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, DK Aruna and Damodara Rajanarasimha. Only Captain Uttam Kumar Reddy, the TPCC president, and Bhatti Vikramarka, a working president, could retain their seats by a slender margin of 3,500 votes. Another working president from Karimnagar, Ponnam Prabhakar also lost his election.

This rout was unprecedented. Some Congress stalwarts withstood the tsunami created by NTR in 1983 and 1994. KCR must have thought it was the best time, before the euphoria died down, to promote his son since he (KCR) would be busy running the administration as well as building the so called Federal Front. Harish has to grin and bear it. He knows that any emotional response would ruin his career and his image as a strong politician with a lot of future.

On KCR’s part, it was a master stroke by all means. The timing was superb. Making KTR the party’s working president first and then putting him in chief minister’s chair would ensure that there would be virtually no resistance at the latter stage when the son succeeds the father.

Well Planned Promotion

On hearing the news of KTR’s promotion, everyone in Telangana who understands politics must have thought about KCR’s nephew and former minister of irrigation Harish Rao. Would Harish take the anointment of KTR, who is younger and junior in politics, in his stride and cooperate or would he rebel? If Harish were to be emotional and outright stupid, he would have objected to KTR’s elevation and walked out of the party with his supporters in a huff, planning to launch his own outfit.

Harish is a practical and reasonable politician. He is acutely aware that his past, presence and future are entwined with his uncle KCR and his party, TRS. He is not the kind to stab in the back of his mentor or plan something resembling a revolt. When KTR visited him at his resience, Harish was seen cheerful and affectionate. Both the young leaders had spent some time together.

On the day of oath-taking, Harish went to KCR’s residence and participated in the celebrations. After KTR took the oath, Harish had taken the ladies in the family, including KCR’s wife, to Tirumala to be present at the abode of Lord Venkateswara on the auspicious day of Eekaadasi.

Prospects of Federal Front

In the event of KCR contesting for Lok Sabha in the ensuing elections, he may ask Harish to follow him to Delhi to help him mobilise support for Federal Front. The strong regional satraps who bunked the meeting of the Opposition parties organised by AP Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu in Delhi recently are said to be with KTR.

Akhilesh Yadav, president of Samajwadi Party (SP) had commented that he could not go to Delhi since he was already in one Front. Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal chief minister and leader of Trinamool Congress, and Mayawati of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are also considered as KCR’s supporters. TRS leader met all the three earlier in his pursuit of Fedral Front.

He met HD Deve Gowda before Karnataka assembly elections. After the thumping victory in Telangana, the credibility and the stock of KCR have gone up while, at the same time, the image of Chandrababu has taken a severe beating with his Telangana experiment of joining hands with the Congress coming a cropper. Not a politician to be diffident even in the face of an utter defeat, Chandrababu would continue to fly all over the country to try and cobble up a front.

DMK chief Stalin made a statement during the unveiling of his father Karunanidhi’s statue in Chennai in the presence of AP chief minister, that Rahul would be the prime minister if the front wins a majority of seats. Chandrababu did not say anything at the point of time. But there were stories in the media saying that Mamata, Mayawati and Chandrababu did not endorse Stalin’s view. Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of the CPM, said the selection of the prime minister would be made only after the polls.

Mamata, Mayawati, Akhilesh and KCR among themselves have the potential of 140 LS seats. There are silent observers like Navin Patnaik who are not committed to either of the fronts. The idea of a non-Congress and non-Congress front has a definite appeal for the federalists. But the past experience says any government that is not headed by either the Congress or the BJP is shortlived. Take, for instance, the dispensations headed by Deve Gowda and IK Gujral which did not last a year each.

If the Federal Front can restrict BJP and Congress, together, to less than 200 seats, it would have a chance to form a government. Even then, it would have the problem of ego trips of the leaders of regional parties to contend with. Otherwise, both the fronts would end up helping the incumbent by dividing the anti-BJP parties among themselves. It remains to be seen whether the fronts would form alliances before the elections or fight polls separately and then negotiate basing on the strength of numbers they win.

These are truly interesting times.

Also Read: KTR Takes Charge As TRS Working President