Rahul, Naidu show a precursor to 2019 polls

​Hyderabad: The first-ever election rally addressed jointly by Congress and Telugu Desam chiefs Rahul Gandhi and N Chandrababu Naidu at Khammam appeared to be the harbinger of the Opposition unity in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

Though Naidu had conferred with Rahul Gandhi in Delhi while on pursuit of bringing all opposition parties together to form a national alliance against the NDA, they had so far not addressed any joint rallies. On Wednesday, both the leaders shared the dais, which had emboldened Rahul Gandhi to challenge the BJP and declare in unequivocal terms that the NDA’s days are numbered. He had said that national alliance that is being built is poised to dislodge the saffron dispensation at Delhi in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Naidu, for his part, has never been as combative as he has become lately after he stepped out of NDA early this year and went for Narendra Modi’s jugular for leaving Andhra Pradesh in the lurch by not acting on the assurances given to the reorganised state in the AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014.

Ahead of Khammam public meeting, Naidu explained to people in Andhra Pradesh why the TDP had joined hands with the Congress which was its principal rival for 37 years. He said it was necessitated to end the BJP rule, which not only had left the state to fend for itself but also had been eroding the democratic institutions in the country with too much of interference.

Rahul Gandhi arrived in Telangana in the morning itself and addressed a public meeting at Kosigi in Kodangal Assembly segment before he left by helicopter for his joint meeting with Naidu at Khammam. If Rahul Gandhi sought to ignite Telangana sentiment at Kosigi by raising Neellu, Nidhulu and Nayamakalu, in Khammam he pledged to implement all assurances given to both Telugu states in AP State Reorganisation Act and special category status for AP after it comes to power at the Centre.

This reassurance was mostly intended for the Telangana as well as Seemandhra voters who are substantial in number in not only Khammam, but also in Nizamabad and Hyderabad and its surroundings. The AICC leader also wanted the message to cross the border and reach people of AP too as they are keenly watching Telangana elections and wanted to know to what extent the Congress would help the state. Rahul Gandhi slammed Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for maintaining stoic silence on pending assurances which include establishment of Bayyaram steel factory, tribal university, railway coach factory in Kazipet and financial incentives to Telangana.

At both Kosigi and Khammam, Rahul Gandhi tried to establish that there is an invisible pact between the TRS and the BJP and in fact TRS is B team of BJP whose aim was to see that the Congress does not come to power at the Centre. To substantiate his claim, he said that TRS had supported Modi’s policies including demonetisation, GST and backing the candidates of the NDA in presidential, vice-presidential elections.

At both the places, Rahul Gandhi, took KCR to task for not keeping his promise of filling one lakh government vacancies and came down on him for his lopsided economic policies and commission-based works. He pointed out how the state’s coffers had shrunk in size with KCR’s ill-advised policies and how TRS leaders had pocketed commissions by inflating the estimates of Chevella-Pranahita project after renaming it as Kaleswaram. “The estimate which was Rs 50,000 core had been raised to Rs 80,000 crore,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Chandrababu Naidu, however, tried to come clean of the allegations the TRS had been making against him. “I am for the development of Telangana. I never obstructed it. I cannot make cheap and debased allegations against KCR,” he said, and dared KCR and MIM whether they could announce on whose side they are – the Congress-led anti-BJP front or the NDA. Naidu, outlining his efforts to cobble up an anti-BJP front at the national level, said that the parties which are opposing the NDA are meeting at Delhi on December 10.

Referring to Telangana, he said he always stood for its development. “I am not contesting from Telangana because I am already chief minister of the neighbouring state and Hyderabad is a golden goose. The T state will be one of the fastest growing state in India and would dominate the world in the future,” he said. It now remains to be seen whether these public meetings and roadshows are going to create a storm in the ensuing elections in Telangana.