‘No agenda to shield NDA govt on notrust vote’

NEW DELHI: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MP K Kavitha on Wednesday said that a federal front her father, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, is trying to cobble up is the result of lack of political acumen and statesmanship in both the Congress and the BJP. Excerpts of an interview to Hindustan Times:

How did this federal front or third front concept emerge?

We have seen various political arrangements that never managed to bring any qualitative change. This federal front is not a mere coalition of a few political parties but the idea is to tell the people that it is possible to bring some serious, effective and qualitative change in the country. If to this date, the country doesn’t have any programme to provide safe drinking water to the people, what have we achieved? We were a power deficit state three years ago and now we have surplus electricity. In three to four years, we will be able to supply power to half of south India and the rest of north India. If a state with a limited budget can plan, execute and deliver, why can’t the nation with unlimited resources do it? There are core issues that the country needs to look into again. KCR sir (Telangana CM) is preparing an agenda for this federal front and, once finalised, it’ll be shared with leaders of other parties.

Is TRS going to keep equal distance from BJP and Congress?

The fundamental issue of this front is that neither the Congress nor the BJP could think in a different way in creating wealth in this nation. There has always been an incidental growth or an incremental growth. The lack of political acumen and statesmanship in Congress and BJP has led to the emergence of an alternative political platform to bring change in the country.

But it has been argued that TRS is soft towards the BJP. Your father was among the few nonNDA leaders who supported demonetisation. Was this federal front initiative taken to correct that perception?

We are a new state and we (TRS) ought to have a cordial working relationship with any party that is in power at the Centre. Our primary agenda is to work for the development of Telangana. It is incidental that the BJP is at the Centre, so we are friendly with it. On demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST), our leader (KCR) believed that such initiatives will work for the nation provided other supplementary steps were taken, but that didn’t happen and that’s why these steps failed to give the desired results. TRS has supported the BJP on issues of national interest because it is a Union government and not a BJP government. The Telangana CM is a forward-looking person who wants to see the entire country progress.

But TRS is accused of helping BJP by disrupting Lok Sabha proceedings and not allowing the noconfidence motion to be taken up for consideration.

That is absolutely false. From day one, TRS members have been protesting in the Well of the House along with YSR Congress Party and Telugu Desam Party. Suddenly, the two parties are trying to take politics integral to Andhra Pradesh on the national scene by giving notices. So, how did we support the BJP? Since there was criticism that we are blocking their no-confidence motion and also because it concerned our neighbouring state, we changed the strategy and sat silently in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. We never protected the NDA government and we don’t have any agenda to shield it. We were protesting on the reservation issue and for our distressed farmers.

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has maintained that the Congress is the only national party that can challenge the BJP. Do you agree?

Sharad Pawarji is a very senior leader and we certainly respect his idea. But Congress is not bigger than any regional party today. To be called a national party, it has to have a pan-India presence. In many states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, regional parties are bigger and stronger than Congress. Both the Congress and the BJP don’t matter to us because they don’t represent our regional aspirations. If you call yourself a national party, you should react out to each and every state and its issues. Now, when Telangana members have been in the Well for 15 days, why doesn’t Congress president (Rahul Gandhi) address these issues? If you are not addressing my issues, how are you relevant to my region? If they (Congress) want us to fight the BJP, let them come out with their agenda to bring about the qualitative change in the country. Then we will see.

Are you in touch with the Biju Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) and the Shiv Sena?

We are in touch with many parties. It is too soon to reveal that. Many parties were waiting for a neutral platform, so the feeling is mutual. We are hoping that other likeminded parties will come together and join hands for the future of this country.

Are we going to see a repeat of the 1996like situation?

You never know. Politics is very surprising and interesting as well.