Thiruvananthapuram: The move by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to cobble up a new non-BJP, non-Congress federal front has given the post-May 23 political scenario a new dimension. On Monday, KCR made a surprise visit to Thiruvananthapuram to market his plan of having a non-BJP, non-Congress alliance with a prime ministerial candidate from the South. This is the first time that KCR has approached the CPM without keeping the politburo in the loop. KCR’s plan has factored in that neither the BJP-led alliance, nor the Congress-led grouping, or the Mahagatbandhan of Uttar Pradesh, would make it to the finishing line.
In such a scenario, regional parties would play a key role. KCR’s plan revolves around forming a non-BJP, non-Congress, non-Mahagatbandhan alliance comprising parties of the south – the CPM and parties in the Left Front in Kerala, TRS in Telangana, BJD in Odisha, YSR Cong-ress and Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena in Andhra Pradesh and Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam in Tamil Nadu.
Vijayan, a staunch party man, reportedly told KCR that CPM’s central leadership would take a call on his plan after May 23. But KCR knows well that Vijayan controls the politburo, as Kerala is the only CPM bastion still standing strong. Playing his card well, KCR reminded Vijayan on how Rahul Gandhi came to Wayanad to spoil the chances of the Left Front.
KCR is also in touch with Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy who is having a terrible time with alliance partner Congress. HDK will be more than willing to align with KCR if it means getting at least some foothold in Delhi. KCR also called up DMK chief MK Stalin who at present is supporting the Congress but may be ready to break away in a crunch situation. The aim of this group is to prop up a PM candidate from the South in order to protect regional interests.
Though dubbed as the ”B” team of BJP, KCR does not want to be seen aligned with the saffron party because he will stand to lose a substantial portion of minority votes. Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM is part of his regional alliance. But if push comes to shove, he might cruise with the BJP for a while. KCR can never be in an alliance comprising his sworn enemy Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. So, talking with the Mahagatbandhan is ruled out as Naidu is not only part of Mahagatbandhan plans, but is also nursing a prime ministerial ambi-tion. Unlike Naidu, KCR can never accommodate Congress in his group. KCR has virtually wiped out Congress in Telangana by coaxing all MLA’s and leaders to switch over his side.
KCR is banking on two things: A PM “preferably from south India”; secondly, “neither BJP nor Congress will be able to form a government even with their present allies”. He is confident that the two parties won’t even get anywhere near the halfway mark. KCR plans to take his idea to the north and east and give another try with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Last year, these meetings were a flop show. Mayawati did not even have a look at KCR’s south plan. So, who will be KCR’s PM candidate from the south? KCR has refused to answer that. But in his silence is the answer – that he himself is the forerunner.
