KCR denies his federal front is pro-BJP

Telangana Chief Minister and TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) has denied that the federal front floated by him was a pro-BJP outfit. He refuted the charge made by Congress president Rahul Gandhi that the proposed federal front was nothing but a B-team of BJP and said that the new front would soon create an “earthquake in national politics” after the 2019 elections.

KCR, who had already met TMC president and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, JMM leader and Jharkhand former Chief Minister Hamant Soren and JD(S) leader and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda to muster their support to the front, will soon be meeting BJD leader and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Samajwadi Party’s former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and DMK leader M.K. Stalin.

KCR, who delivered a valedictory speech at the annual plenary of TRS at Kompally on the outskirts of Hyderabad on 27 April, vowed to provide an effective alternative to both Congress and BJP in national politics. “People of the country are fed up with the cyclical power change between Congress and BJP-led coalitions at the Centre,” he said.

KCR told the delegates that his efforts to build a front should be seen as a sincere attempt to solve the problems of the country. The TRS chief blamed Congress for doing nothing to develop the country, while saying that BJP which led coalitions for about nine years, too, cannot escape its share of responsibility. KCR said that Akhilesh Yadav had evinced interest in the federal front and was willing to come to Hyderabad to meet him in May. Last week, KCR’s son and IT minister K.T. Rama Rao had met Yadav in Lucknow and invited him for talks on the federal front. TRS sources said that KCR was likely to meet Shiv Sena leaders, too, in Mumbai.