KCR plans outreach as support for Third Front gathers pace
HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday announced a series of meetings with various organisations and individuals to chalk out the agenda for the Third Front, which he says will be a political alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party at the national level.
A spokesperson from the chief minister’s office (CMO) said that as part of the strategy, KCR, as he is popularly known, would first meet retired officers from all-india services such as the IAS, IPS, IFS and IRS, who have held important positions at the Centre in the past.
“As these officials had seen political developments closely at the state and the central levels, the chief minister feels their input would be of great help in forming the alternative political front, which he is ready to lead,” the spokesperson said.
KCR on Saturday mooted the plan to float the alternative before the next general election scheduled to be held in 2019. The 64-year-old leader said there was an urgent need for a qualitative change in Indian politics, as the two national parties, which have ruled the country for seven decades, had miserably failed to address people’s problems.
The TRS president would also meet retired defence personnel, former judges and advocates, representatives of farmers’ and employees associations at the national and state level, leading economists of the country and retired officials of the finance department at the Centre.
“He is also planning to have interactions with media houses, industrial bodies and labour organisations to have a comprehensive understanding of national issues so that he can chalk out the agenda for the front,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson said that the CM wants all those who have been thinking about the nation in various ways to become the participants in the process to bring qualitative change in politics.
These meetings will be organised in Hyderabad and as well as in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru etc.
An official from the CMO said that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had called upon the TRS president and conveyed her support to his proposal to form the third front.
Former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren also expressed solidarity with KCR and welcomed his decision to play a key role in national politics.
All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Jana Sena party chief Pawan Kalyan, and a couple of MPS from Maharashtra were among the political leaders who welcomed KCR’S third front proposal, the CMO said.
Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi too on Monday spoke to Rao over phone and expressed his support, a release from Rao’s office said.
“Ajit Jogi told the CM that he will be with him in his efforts to form a front at the national level and expressed his willingness to join the front,” the release said.
The chief minister feels their (retired officers from allindia services) input would be of great help in forming the alternative political front, which he is ready to lead. SPOKESPERSON, Telangana CMO