Buoyed by its runaway success in the Assembly election last December and envisaging a hung Lok Sabha, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is gearing up to play a key role in the formation of the next government at the Centre.
TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who floated the Federal Front as an alternative to the coalitions led by the BJP and the Congress, is now focussed on securing 16 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the State so as to ensure that his party’s support would become crucial in cobbling together a coalition government.
“All surveys have shown that the BJP-led NDA is unlikely to win more than 150 to 160 parliamentary constituencies,” said TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, who is popularly known as KTR. “The Congress is in no position to win on its own. In such a situation the Federal Front will play a decisive role,” added KTR, who is the Chief Minister’s son.
According to KTR, Mr. Rao was in a position to mobilise the support of a clutch of regional parties, which would together win 70 to 100 Lok Sabha seats and act as a pressure group at the Centre. The TRS was in touch with the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), among others, he added.
Kicking off the TRS election campaign on Sunday, Mr. Rao said that he would plunge into national politics and “change the face of the country” if the TRS won 16 seats. He added that he would also start a national party, depending on the political developments that would unfold after the poll.
In 2014, the TRS won 11 Lok Sabha seats, a tally that subsequently increased to 14 after three MPs joined it — one each from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the YSR Congress Party and the Congress. The one constituency that the TRS is not vying for this time is Hyderabad, represented by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
During a recent tour of various districts, KTR exuded confidence over the prospects of the Federal Front, especially in government formation at the Centre. Asserting that the Congress was unlikely to secure more than 100 seats and the BJP about 150, he quipped, “Even if these two parties come together they will not get more than 273 seats, which is required to form the government at the Centre.”
Political observers, however, opine that the Federal Front may be harder to realise. The concept for a third front is “colourless, shapeless and odourless”, said K. Nageshwar, a political analyst and a Professor of Journalism at Osmania University. “There are several parties which want to go with the BJP and some other parties with the Congress. There is no party which wants to maintain equidistance from both the parties. Hence, there is no space for a third front,” he said.
Still, for the TRS a near clean sweep in the State would strengthen its bargaining power with the Centre.
Accusing the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not conceding “national” status to any of the irrigation projects in the State, KTR emphasised that the State would be able to secure its share from the Centre if the TRS had 16 MPs. Having bagged 88 of the State’s 119 seats in the Assembly election, the TRS is confident of improving its performance in the Lok Sabha election. The AIMIM’s open support to the TRS, though there is no electoral pact between the two parties, has bolstered the ruling party’s prospects. Muslims account for 12.5% of Telangana’s population.
Uphill task
The Congress, which suffered a chastening defeat in the Assembly elections — bagging just 19 seats — and has been weakened by multiple defections since then, faces a tough uphill task. So far, six Congress MLAs have announced their decision to join the TRS. To add to the woes, on Friday, an MLA from L.B. Nagar, D. Sudheer Reddy, held talks with KTR, and Mr. Rao has said publicly that 10 Congress legislators were ready to jump ship and join the TRS.
The BJP may not be in a position to challenge the TRS at the hustings, with the party’s efforts to make the Balakot air strikes into a campaign issue unlikely to impress voters in the State, according to political observers.
In 2014, the BJP, which had an alliance with the TDP, contested seven seats but had won only one, the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency. And though it had contested in 117 constituencies in December’s State election, the party saw its tally in the Assembly dip to one seat, from five in 2014.
And while the BJP now plans to field candidates for all the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies, it remains to be seen whether it can retain even the one seat it had won last time.
