In the Telangana assembly elections held this month, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) swept the polls. It has now brought forward the idea of a non – BJP, non – Congress front ahead of the parliamentary elections in 2019. The proposed group has been called a neutral front. TRS Lok Sabha MP Kalva Kuntia Kavitha said the BJP- led NDA had failed miserably to keep its promises. At the same time she ruled out an alliance with the Congress- led UPA. The TRS is working for a coalition that will be free of both big parties. It does not want to be team B of a big alliance. It wishes to be team B of the Indian people. It is looking forward to the formation of a third force. One wonders if she has MNF in Mizoram and possibly the Trinamool Congress in mind. Kavitha has pitched for regional parties to come together. She hopes that regional parties will pay a bigger role in national politics in the coming months. Led by her father Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of the TRS, her party, she hoped, would forge an alliance with parties which are not comfortable with either the BJP or the Congress. The TRS does not warm up to the idea of Rahul Gandhi as the Congress Prime Ministerial Candidate. His father, Rajiv Gandhi opposed the creation of Telangana when he was Prime Minister. Two other strong regional parties the Trinamool Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also objected to Rahul Gandhi’s projection as the future Prime Minister.
The revival of talks for a third group by the TRS points to the developments. First it indicates K Chandrasekhar Rao’s intention of having a hand in national politics much the same way as Mamata Banerjee. He proposes to leave the state to Rama Rao; his son. Dynastic succession seems endemic in Indian politics. There is a Congress revival on with victory in three states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Karnataka and Punjab are under Congress rule. Kerala is ruled by the CPI (M) in alliance with the Congress. It appears that a pro – Congress wave is sweeping over a large part of the country. A third group however favours the BJP as it will split anti- BJP votes. Does someone like Mamata Banerjee want BJP back at the centre?
In any case the quest for a unified political group with a common prime ministerial candidate appears like a futile search at the moment.