After cosying up to BJP, KCR claims TRS will “remain a secular party”

Amid talk of early polls, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao sounded the poll bugle in Hyderabad on Wednesday, August 15. KCR, as Rao is popularly known, appealed to people to continue their support in his pursuit to transform the state into a 'golden Telangana'.

In his speech at the main official function to mark India's 72nd Independence Day, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief, who recently dropped hints of polls being advanced, said the blessings of the people were a source of strength for him.

KCR made sure to issue fulsome praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, praising Modi’s recent speech in Parliament in which the latter had praised Telangana. He said Modi lauded Telangana for acting with maturity after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh by focusing on development. "As he said we refrained from playing cheap politics and raking up unnecessary disputes," said KCR.

The praise for Modi is in line with KCR’s recent cosying up with the former’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the NDA coalition government at the centre.

• TRS supported the NDA in the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman election
• TRS abstained during the no-confidence vote brought by Andhra Pradesh parties in the Lok Sabha against the NDA government, thus helping the latter by reducing the numbers required for majority
• TRS supported the BJP candidate in the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections
• KCR met Modi twice in recent past, triggering speculations of an alliance with BJP
• Not least, KCR and Modi have been showering praise on each other

Though claiming TRS support to NDA is only issue-based, all these instances have made talks of a BJP-TRS pact in the upcoming general elections rife in Delhi, especially after Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao counted the TRS among the NDA’s "new friends in the making". TRS leaders have also been briefing media anonymously about being open to a post-poll tie-up with the BJP.

KCR rules out alliance with BJP, but is there a secret understanding?

Suddenly remembering Telangana and Hyderabad’s large number of minority voters, KCR had on August 13 ruled out any truck with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) will "remain a secular party". He refuted Congress allegations that he had entered into a secret understanding with the BJP. Rao, however, defended his meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he would meet him to discuss issues related to the state.

KCR also claimed that he still stands by his plans to form a non-Congress and non-BJP federal front for the Lok Sabha elections. "The federal front may take a little time but it will become a reality. I am not in a hurry," he said.

Briefing the media on the decisions taken at a meeting of the TRS party executive, the chief minister told the gathered media persons that the TRS will go it alone in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections and announce its candidates as early as next month. Technically, there are 11 months to go for assembly elections in Telangana. Hence this set off speculations of polls being advanced. Asked if he is going for early assembly polls, the TRS leader said the party was ready for any eventuality. "It can't be called early polls as the Election Commission of India can hold elections any time six months before the end of the house term," he said.

With IANS inputs