A day ahead of a mammoth public meeting of the ruling TRS here on Sunday, the much-hyped Cabinet meeting is likely to confine itself to ratification of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s populist schemes.
Sources said Mr. Rao was unlikely to pursue his idea of dissolving the Assembly and forcing early elections to capitalise on the “feel good factor in the State”. He will not create confusion at the rally that was primarily meant to present the four-year progress report of the TRS government, they added.
Sources said Mr. Rao might convene another meeting of the Cabinet after the rally, probably before September 10, specifically to announce his resignation and pave the way for dissolution of the Assembly. This will be preceded by convening the Assembly for a couple of days after September 5. The sitting will fulfil the constitutional obligation to hold the session before September 27, when the six-month deadline for the House to meet expires. The government will use the session to pass pending Bills.
The TRS government opting for early elections, at least six months ahead of schedule, had gained wide currency in the last few days as the party was keen on polls in a comfortable time zone when the tidings were in its favour rather than incurring public wrath in summer and examination season. The party drew inspiration from Narendra Modi’s resignation as Chief Minister and dissolution of Gujarat Assembly eight months before its term was to expire in 2002 and helping BJP to return to power amid strong criticism that Mr. Modi failed to check communal riots in the State.
It had become inevitable for the government to dissolve the Assembly before September 10 if Mr. Rao was convinced about going to polls early to include Telangana with Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram where elections are due in December and the election notification was likely by October-end. The Election Commission is said to have insisted on a 45-day time-frame to take a look at electoral rolls in the State before issue of election notification.
In this backdrop, Mr. Rao will merely use the Cabinet meeting and rally to announce new schemes like loan waiver of ₹1.5 lakh to farmers (₹50,000 more than last time), an unemployment allowance of ₹1,000 up to the age of 35 years, hiking social security pensions from ₹1,000 to 2,000 per month and interim relief of 35 per cent of basic pay, pending pay revision, to government employees.
