Poll-eager TRS pushes Opposition into action

​Hyderabad: The Assembly elections heat is on. With Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao having more or less decided to dissolve the Assembly on Thursday to pave way for early elections, the Opposition parties - Congress, BJP and TJS - are galvanising their cadres into action, while simultaneously taking a close look at alliances they could forge, and scripting manifestoes to woo various sections of voters.

The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), after blowing the poll bugle at Kongara Kalan, has hastened the steps to ensure early elections. As the dissolution of Telangana state Assembly seems imminent on Thursday, stage is all set to have the newly-created Telangana state a caretaker government which is to be overseen by the caretaker Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao, who incidentally the first CM of the T state after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. After the dissolution of the Assembly, KCR will address first of 100 meetings in 50 days at Husnabad in erstwhile Karimnagar district on Sept 7.

Though the 5-year term of the incumbent TRS government ends June 2, 2019, KCR made up his mind to go for early elections relinquishing the power he is already enjoying for almost 9 months (September to June) in advance. The fast-pace developments taking place in the government clearly indicates KCR will hold cabinet meeting on Thursday and dissolve the Assembly.

Soon after dissolving the assembly, the CM will submit the letter of his cabinet decision to Governor ESL Narasimhan. Giving his nod, the Governor will instruct state Assembly Secretary to issue a gazette dissolving the assembly and the same will be forwarded to the Election Commission (EC) which has to conduct elections within six months after the dissolution of the Assembly.

As per the official procedure, the caretaker CM and the existing cabinet will run the government. However, the cabinet is not given any powers to take any major policy decisions except during the emergencies. In case of any emergency, the caretaker government will take important decisions in consultation with the Governor. There is possibility of clamping Presidential rule if the Election Commission fails to conduct elections within six months. However, it depends on the relations between the caretaker chief minister and the Union government, officials averred.

They said that the Chief Minister already reshuffled the state administration by transferring majority of the district collectors and IPS officials in the state Police department recently ensuring the smooth run of the administration till the elections are held.

KCR has already held series of meetings with the legal luminaries and constitutional experts and sought their advice to move towards dissolving the Assembly. The TRS was already acquainted with all information regarding pros and cons to his political career if he dissolves the Assembly before completing the term.

Meanwhile, the Congress, which is keen on striking an alliance with TDP and the TJS, is sending feelers to them on the number of seats it could offer to them while the party in-charge for Telangana RC Khuntia is staying put in Hyderabad, coordinating the party affairs to make it look as a cohesive party which is battle-ready.

The Bharatiya Janata Party too is gearing up for polls. Party chief Amit Shah, at a meeting with party leaders here recently, is understood to have told them that there was no overt or covert alliance with the TRS and that they should go full throttle at the ruling party. He reportedly said that the BJP could turn the tables against the TRS, taking inspiration from the gains the saffron party has logged in in Tripura where its presence earlier was practically non-existent. To begin with, the party is organising a major public meeting at Mahbubnagar on Sept 12 or 15 where Amit Shah will kick-start the campaign for the party.

The Telangana Jana Samiti, which his floated by Telangana movement leader Prof M Kodandaram is also preparing to announce manifesto which would be named after Telangana ideologue the late Prof K Jayashankar. The TJS has already started door-to-door campaign in about 25 assembly segments in the state. The CPM is working with Bahujana Left Front since it does not want to associate with any formation that has Congress in it while the CPI has no qualms in working with the TJS.