Last week, political strategist Prashant Kishor and actor-turned politician Prakash Raj visited Telangana for wide-ranging consultations.
The visit came days after Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao flew to Mumbai to meet his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar. Mr. Raj met Mr. Rao at Mumbai airport and was present at the meetings with both the leaders.
If pictures of Mr. Raj receiving Mr. Rao at the airport caught everyone’s imagination, there was more in store when it became known that the actor and Mr. Kishor met Mr. Rao at his farmhouse days later. They also visited two reservoirs, a resettlement and rehabilitation colony for project oustees, an integrated vegetarian and non-vegetarian market, an auditorium and a crematorium in Siddipet.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) made light of Mr. Kishor’s visit saying his meeting with Mr. Rao was only part of the tour he was taking of the country to understand the views of leaders on the political situation. A senior leader said Mr. Rao explained to Mr. Kishor the summary of his meeting with Mr. Thackeray. Mr. Kishor gave a presentation of his work as the founder of the Indian Political Action Committee. “But our boss is not one to be swayed so easily,” the leader said, adding that Mr. Raj was present more to discuss future political programmes in which he could play a role.
The TRS leaders said that Mr. Kishor had been tasked with preparing the blueprint for the party’s prospects in the next Assembly elections. His team would be deployed to survey the public pulse and suggest corrective action.
Mr. Kishor’s visit was slammed by the Congress as an attempt to weaken the party. The Congress alleged that he was trying to make the electoral contest in Telangana a triangular one involving the TRS, BJP and Congress. The Congress accused Mr. Rao of indirectly supporting Mr. Modi to destabilise the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance by weaning away its partners like the DMK and Shiv Sena. All-India Congress Committee secretary Madhu Yaskhi said Mr. Raj was eyeing a Rajya Sabha seat from the TRS after losing the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka last time.
These allegations were denied by BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar who said the BJP believed in growing on its own; it was under no compulsion to weaken other parties. He criticised Mr. Kishor and Mr. Raj as divisive forces who were trying to destabilise the country.
Telangana Jana Samithi president M. Kodandaram accused Mr. Kishor of having no political or moral convictions. Communist Party of India State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy said the meeting showed Mr. Rao’s eagerness to enter national politics. But so far, he has only been making statements, he said.
The popular perception is that Mr. Rao is trying to make common ground with Mr. Kishor and Mr. Raj in his efforts to build an anti-BJP front. Mr. Kishor has said in many interviews that that it is not difficult to defeat the BJP if the Opposition parties came together on common issues. In his meetings with Opposition leaders, Mr. Rao has also brought up the agenda of coming together on common issues. Mr. Rao saw an opportunity in collaborating with Mr. Raj as the latter was the leading light in the campaign against the BJP in Karnataka following the murder of his friend,. journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh.
Mr. Rao’s priority is to enter the national stage and handover the baton in Telangana to his son and Minister K.T. Rama Rao. But that would mean engaging the BJP in a healthy contest, keeping the Congress at bay in the State, and entering the national scene all at the same time, which is no easy task.
rahul.n@thehindu.co.in
