Telangana CM KCR out of federal front?

Hyderabad, Aug 03: A few months ago, it was Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who kick-started a nation-wide debate on hovering a third political substitute to the Congress and the BJP at the national level.

At his party's plenary, Hyderabad in April, KCR even announced his name of the game to inroad into national politics by inflating a federal front of all regional parties.

He rushed down to Kolkata to talk to Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to discuss the method of the federal front.

He also held talks with Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Janata Dal (S) chief HD Deve Gowda, JMM chief Hemanth Soren and DMK chief M K Stalin in this regard.

But later, KCR went silent on the federal front plan, though his party leaders have been talking about it every now and then.

Seemingly, the regional party heads have realised that his attempts were intending at only depressing the Congress and strengthening the BJP. So, they stopped interacting with him.

Even at the Niti Ayog general council meeting held in June, the opposition party leaders ignored KCR and snuggled up with Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

Now, it looks like KCR has been completely kept out of the federal front. It was obvious from the way Mamata Banerjee invited several regional party heads, except KCR, to her proposed mega rally of the federal front in Kolkata on January 19.

Apart from TDP, DMK, RJD, Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (S), she also called YSR Congress party, an enemy of the TDP, to the rally. She even called BJP's ally Shiv Sena to the rally, but not the TRS.

The reason is clear-cut. The TMC wants the Congress to be part of the proposed front, but KCR is strongly opposing the same. On the other hand, the TRS and BJD are indirectly backing the Narendra Modi government and the BJP.

So, the federal front has gone out of KCR's hands and the TMC chief taken the hostage of the same.