Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will visit Bihar on August 31 to meet his counterpart Nitish Kumar and to extend financial assistance to the families of Galvan Valley martyrs and migrant workers from Bihar who recently died in a fire accident at a timber depot in Secunderabad.
Sources in the government said Mr. Rao, who had been meeting non-BJP leaders to oppose the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was scheduled to meet Mr. Kumar over lunch in Patna. Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav along with leaders from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti too was likely to join the lunch.
At a public meeting on Monday, Mr. Rao called Mr. Modi “a golmal PM [a chaotic PM]” and asked people to take a pledge to make a “ BJP-mukt Bharat [a BJP-free India]” in 2024. He slammed the Modi government saying, “whatever they call are blatant lies”.
Recently, Mr. Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) had severed ties with the BJP and joined hands with the Opposition RJD to form the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government in the State. The grand alliance leaders, since then, have been pitching Mr. Kumar as a possible “PM candidate, if such a situation comes up in 2024 and all Opposition parties agree”. Mr. Kumar, though, has been refuting such possibilities saying, “he doesn’t nurse any such ambition but wants to serve Bihar”. “But if all Opposition leaders get united, those who has come in 2014 will definitely face trouble in 2024”, said Mr. Kumar, while indicating towards Mr. Modi.
‘Has all qualities’
However, sources close to Mr. Kumar told The Hindu that he would be exploring possibilities to project himself as PM candidate against Mr. Modi as an Opposition candidate in the 2024 parliamentary elections. “Why can’t he be the PM, if son of a chaiwala (tea vendor) can become PM, why not an engineer son of a Ayurvedic medicine practitioner become the PM?”, asked a senior JD(U) leader, adding, “Mr. Kumar has been the most experienced Chief Minister of the country today and he has all qualities to don the PM’s post”.
Mr. Rao is scheduled to extend financial assistance to the bereaved family members of soldiers who had died in Galwan Valley clashes with China in Ladakh and to 12 workers from Bihar who recently died in a fire mishap at a Secunderabad timber depot. An amount of ₹10 lakh is to be given as assistance to the bereaved family members of soldiers and ₹5 lakh each to the family members of deceased migrant workers.
