KCR should set his own house in order first

'Galli elections', as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) calls it, are now posing a challenge to the ruling party. Ever since the pink party came to power in 2014, it never looked back and had been on a winning spree in all elections. Now Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is contemplating to take the fight to Delhi saying that the two national parties – the Congress and the BJP - had failed in ensuring country's growth and are bereft of ideas.

Rao has been toying with the idea of moving over to national politics for some time. His first attempt was before the last general elections when he went around some States like West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to enlist support for his yatra towards Delhi. Some leaders like Hemant Soren and Akhilesh Yadav had met Rao in Hyderabad. But with the BJP getting absolute majority at the Centre, the idea of a federal front was put on back burner.

KCR claims that starting as a one-man army, he had achieved the separate State and though he just has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha, he can succeed in influencing the national politics and can emerge as the next Desh ki Neta. It now remains to be seen how many regional party leaders would agree to stand by him and how effective they can be in reducing the popularity of Modi.

The Bihar elections proved that Modi is still the USP of the BJP. Though Chandrashekar Rao has an advantage of being fluent in Telugu and good knowledge of Hindi and English, the fact is the kind of Hindi he speaks and the kind of Hindi the cow belt would accept are different. In fact, the biggest hurdle would be to bring all regional chieftains on one platform and make them accept him as their leader.

Moreover, getting nod for implementing the policies which he says only he can conceive, is also not an easy task particularly when one must lead a coalition government. The path ahead is certainly a rough one. Rao is fully aware of the fact that the BJP, unlike in the past, is now more serious in gaining foothold in Telangana State and for that it is necessary for the saffron party to win respectable number of seats and that is why Delhi leaders have been roped in for Galli elections.

The pink party also realised that there was some undercurrent particularly among the youth. They also realised that it was their overconfidence that made them lose Dubbaka by-election. The BJP has emerged as the frontrunner to fill the political vacuum. Hence it does not want to take any chance in the Baldia elections. If it does not retain its present position in GHMC, it would be difficult to pursue with its high dreams of going national.

The BJP which has tasted success in Dubbaka, the first election after the new state unit president Bandi Sanjay took over, also does not want to lose an opportunity which could help them in emerging as the major Opposition party in the next general elections. But in the process, parties and leaders appear to be losing their balance and the campaign is turning more into rabbling.

While the BJP State president said there would be surgical strike on old city, the AIMIM reacted demanding the government to first demolish the encroachment in Hussain Sagar which includes PV Ghat and NTR Ghat. The focus of all political parties appears to be more on destructive politics rather than progressive politics. Every party tries to justify their statements saying that what they said was nothing when compared to their political rivals. Before these leaders embark on changing the face of the country, they should first ensure that good political culture is developed in the State.