At the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)’s plenary held in Hyderabad recently, when the Telangana Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, made his intentions clear about expanding the party’s national footprint by going at “misgovernance” by the Bharatiya Janata Party hammer and tongs, it was apparent that he was sticking to the script prepared by the high-profile election strategist, Prashant Kishor.
‘A common agenda’
Mr. Kishor had flown down to Hyderabad after his attempt to make headway with advising the Indian National Congress party and even finding a role in it misfired. Mr. Kishor was in confabulations with Mr. Rao over two days and drew up a blueprint on how the TRS could execute its “go national” action plan. Mr. Rao’s assertions at the plenary looked to be much in sync with Mr. Kishor’s strategy of the Opposition taking on the BJP in the 2024 general election. As if on cue, Mr. Rao, laying bare his national political ambitions, spoke of India needing an “alternative political agenda, and ridding the country of the religious hatred spread by the BJP ruling at the Centre”. He laid emphasis on a common agenda for India and not so much on a political front “to make someone a Prime Minister”. An agenda was needed that included an integrated agricultural policy and reorienting the goals of sectors such as industry to meet the aspirations of the people. He noted that people were tired of the BJP’s single point programme of stoking religious passions across the country and wondered if the United Progressive Alliance was better.
