KCR Meets Mamata .... A Good Beginning towards national alternative : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

KCR Meets Mamata

A Good Beginning towards national alternative

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

On more than one occasion, Telangana State Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has proved himself that he is one who can make a difference in politics in India and who can think out of the box to achieve goals that seldom any leader ever attempted.

Having proved his mettle as a people’s leader and an able administrator par excellence, KCR, in the recent past has been airing his thoughts on the national level issues especially the federal spirit and cooperative federalism of our country as well as the Centre-State relations. KCR also has been quite logically talking about the status quo power politics at the Centre. As he rightly observed, people in the country for the past 71 years have no option as far as electing the government at the Centre is concerned. It had been for decades, Congress or non-Congress and in the recent past it is either Congress or BJP. The people in the country have no option, no other choice but to chose between the bi-polar parties like the BJP and the Congress. Why not think of an alternative narrative at the Centre, the non-BJP, non-Congress one? This is a valid question KCR has been raising for the past couple of months and a few weeks ago, he even declared that he is not averse to leading such an alternate in the national politics.

As a first major step towards this and seeking to give a concrete shape to the idea of launching an alternative in the national political scenario, KCR met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on 19^th March 2018 in Kolkata enlisting her support to the non-BJP, non-Congress national alternative.

After the historic meeting, both KCR and Mamata interacting with the media gathered there, described their meeting as “a good beginning” towards the formation of an alternative to take on the ruling BJP in the 2019 general elections. KCR visualized that “alternative federal front” as a strictly non-Congress, non-BJP platform.  

KCR also said, “There is a specialty for our meeting today. Some people are mis-understanding our attempt as Third Front and treating it as a front for the elections and a political front that is going to be formed during the elections”.

Elaborating further on the issue, KCR said, “You know what is happening in this country for the last 71 years and you still want that same routine model to continue? What new will happen if BJP comes or Congress comes to power? Will there be a chamatkar (magic)? This country needs a chamatkar,” said KCR. Emphasizing the need for an “alternative agenda, an alternative development and an alternative political force” in the country, KCR said the “routine kind of administration” as performed by both the Congress and the BJP had not worked well for the country.

On the leadership of the new Federal Front, KCR said, “Do not worry. It will be a collective leadership. Leaders emerge from situations and sequence of events.” Mamata chose not to add to that statement. “We have to take our country like East Asian tigers, like China, and this country has a great opportunity,” said KCR, adding, “We have a lot of natural and mineral resources.”

KCR further said that the two leaders agreed to bring in a “real federal front” and called the alliance as people’s agenda. “Today is just a beginning. We have to talk to all of the others,” he said while telling the reporters not to read this as any other alliance of political parties. There are labels of a third or fourth front, of just another front before the elections. Our front will be a federal front. Ours will be a collective, federal leadership.”

The West Bengal CM said politics could throw up circumstances when all kinds of individuals get the opportunity to work together. “In a democracy, we must develop the culture of working together. We have good relations with other parties and we will maintain that. If we can work together, nothing can be better for this country,” she said, clearly indicating her intentions to keep reaching out to other regional opposition parties for finding a common minimum ground on which a workable alliance could be forged ahead of the 2019 polls.

“We have only just started this dialogue. Others would automatically gather around us. We want a strong federal front. If the states are strong, the Centre too would be strong. It’s like a collective family. Let us approach the other parties and discuss this matter. We are in no hurry,” she clarified.

Answering a spate of questions, KCR requested the media persons to think differently out of routine. He reiterated that the proposed Federal Front would choose a unique agenda, which will be different from the existing time old agendas. He urged the media persons not to treat this proposed Front as a routine run of the mill political group. “A new beginning is made from the historic and ancient city of Kolkata. We must redefine out country and society. We will further discuss the matter,” he said.

Mamata Banerjee, too, called the meeting a good beginning. She said that the two parties are not in a hurry to form a federal front and will be talking to other parties gradually. “We want the federal front to be strong. If the states are strong the front will be strong. We are not in a hurry,” she said.

The two Chief Ministers said both agreed that the country needed growth-driven politics at this juncture. Both leaders are also in agreement that their meeting had initiated the process of forming a ‘federal front’ for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.