Telangana Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has put to rest the speculation about early elections to the State Assembly as he did during the first term, stating that he would not go for early polls this time under any circumstances as “there’s no need for it”.
Quoting a recent survey, Mr. Rao said a study was done in 30 Assembly constituencies and the report indicated that the TRS would win 29 seats comfortably and would lose one seat with a margin of 0.3% votes. “First time we (TRS) won 63 seats, second time it was 88 and this time it would be 95-105 seats,” he said, speaking after the TRS Legislature Party and extended executive committee meeting chaired by him at the party headquarters here, Telangana Bhavan.
Last time there was need for continuity of governance as most of the works taken up by the TRS government were not fully completed. However, there is no such need this time as all major projects and programmes are complete except for projects such as Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme.
Stating that he is concentrating on national politics now as there is a huge void and vacuum to be filled, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said he is working at least for 3-4 hours a day in that direction and psephologist Prashanth Kishore was also working with him. “ KCR will go wherever his need is there – at national level or State level – but for sure, TRS government will remain in Telangana,” he asserted.
Revealing his success mantra in politics, the TRS chief said success would largely depend on the trend, situation and equation and a matching articulator would make the job easy. To a question related to working with Prashanth Kishore, Mr. Rao said: “Why are they looking at him like a bomb? He is adept at analysing the public mood and has been my best friend for the last 7-8 years. He is not a paid worker but has commitment towards the nation”.
Turning to the BJP-led government at the Centre, the Telangana Chief Minister said but for its non-performance, the GSDP of Telangana this time would have been ₹ 14.5 lakh crore instead of ₹ 11.5 lakh crore. The country’s GDP had gone down and unemployment had gone up during the NDA regime compared to the previous UPA rule, he pointed out, adding that the country’s poor rating in all human development indices was a reflection of it.
Kashmir Files
Reacting to the frenzy revolving around Kashmir Files film, particularly anchored by the BJP, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said instead of trying to gain politically with the film, the Centre could work towards undoing the injustice heaped on Kashmiri Pandits.
Asked about the BJP threats of ordering probes against him, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said: “Who stopped them from getting Income Tax or ED raids done against me. Only the scamsters will fear such threats and not KCR”.
