Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday, 6 September, announced a list of 105 candidates after dissolving the state assembly, thereby paving way for an early election.
Addressing a press conference after meeting Governor ESL Narasimhan, Rao said that the future of Telangana should be decided by the people of Telangana and not by Delhi.
“I appeal to people, let us not become slaves to Congress, slaves to Delhi. Telangana ka nirnay Telangana mein hona chahiye (The future of Telangana should be decided by Telangana),” Rao said.
However, even as rumours about Rao’s growing affinity to the BJP are rife, Rao said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is a secular party and won’t be joining hands with the BJP.
KCR Resigns; Sets Stage For Early Polls
Governor ESL Narasimhan has approved the dissolution as recommended by the chief minister and has asked him to continue as the caretaker CM till the new government is formed.
Chief Minister Rao had convened the cabinet meet at 1 pm at Pragati Bhavan, his official residence, which was abuzz since morning with the arrival of ministers and top officials.
The cabinet then passed a resolution, recommending Governor ESL Narasimhan to dissolve the Assembly.
Officially, the Assembly’s term expires on May 2019 and elections in normal course would be conducted along with the Lok Sabha polls.
TRS sources said KCR chose 6 September for the key decision as he considers '6' his lucky number. This is the reason cited for not taking the decision during the cabinet meeting on 2 September, which was held hours before the massive public meeting organised by the party to sound the poll bugle.
KCR will formally launch the TRS election campaign with a public meeting at Husnabad in Siddipet district on Friday.
Christened 'Prajala Aasirwada Sabha', this will be the first of 100 public meetings planned by TRS over the next 50 days.
Why Does KCR Want Early Polls?
KCR stopped short of making the announcement of dissolving the Assembly in a party rally on Sunday in Ranga Reddy district.
According to a report in Moneycontrol, KCR might be hoping to win a bigger mandate, because of which he has taken the decision to dissolve the Assembly. Earlier, in 2014, KCR came to power by winning 63 seats in a 119-seat assembly.
Secondly, another report in The Indian Express suggests that KCR doesn’t want to dent his chances of emerging as a key player in the 2019 elections in the light of his growing affinity with the BJP.
Speaking to the daily, KCR’s son and IT Minister, KT Rama Rao said, “If at all the elections are held early it will help the TRS. We will win both the state as well as Lok Sabha polls convincingly. Holding early elections will give us ample room to find potential partners for 2019 polls.”
Another argument that has been put forth is that the political observers said TRS is keen for early elections as the party believes that simultaneous elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha may not help it highlighting welfare and developmental works undertaken during the last four years.
(With inputs from IANS)
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