Chairman of Telangana political parties’ Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) and estranged friend of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Prof M. Kodandaram, is likely to float a new political party by the end of February. The new political party will contest the 2019 general elections with the aim of removing the KCR government in the state.
Kodandaram told The Sunday Guardian that there was “tremendous pressure from the public to launch a new political party that could take on the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which has failed to fulfill the aspirations of all sections of people.” He did not specify when exactly he would be launching the partyb or what it would be called.
But sources close to him told this newspaper that a decision has been taken that during the convention of all delegates of the T-JAC in Hyderabad by the end of February an announcement would be made. Names such as Telangana Jana Samithi and Prajaswamika Samajika Telangana are under consideration, said a member of T-JAC, who preferred not to be quoted.
Another T-JAC member S. Prabhakar Reddy, who spoke to this newspaper, said that the formation of the new party was imminent. “The JAC has a historical responsibility to respond to the demands of the people as we were with them for the last 10 years,” he said.
Prabhakar Reddy, who represents private educational institutions in the JAC, and a few other members in the outfit are of the view that the new party had to be formed by the end of February or March so as to prepare early for the next elections in April/May 2019. Till February last week Kodandaram has scheduled meetings with youths and farmers in various districts of Telangana. Arrangements are on to register a party with the Election Commission and get a flat and symbol by the time.
Prof Kodandaram along with KCR had fought for the separate state for over a decade. Kodandaram, who retired as a political science professor of Osmania University two years ago, was made the chairman of the T-JAC by KCR in 2009 when the then Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram made an announcement for the creation of Telangana. Differences cropped up between KCR and Kondandram during the election as the latter moved close to the Congress even when the TRS contested the polls on its own. Kodandaram securing two Congress tickets for JAC activists had precipitated the differences and KCR after coming to power in June 2014 had distanced himself from the JAC. After two years, Kodandaram had activated JAC and stared questioning the TRS government. The TRS has termed Kodandaram as a “power monger” and an “agent of the Congress”. Now that Kodandaram is said to launch a new party, questions are being raised on whether he would form an alliance with the Congress or with any other party. TRS MLC and government whip Palla Rajeswar Reddy told this newspaper: “Kodandaram has no credibility and his efforts to unseat us won’t succeed.”