KCR's Maharashtra visit: Regional parties uniting against Modi to preserve their own identities

Telangana Chief Minister KCR has oft late made his national ambitions clear warning the BJP to throw it out of power from the Centre and warning the saffron party that people will chase it out of power. He made it clear that if necessary his party the Telangana Rashtra Samithi will play a key role in national politics for the larger interest of the country. KCR's upcoming visit to Maharashtra on February 20 to meet Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seems to be oriented towards that direction only.

Mumbai: Telangana Chief Minister KCR has oft late made his national ambitions clear warning the BJP to throw it out of power from the Centre and warning the saffron party that people will chase it out of power. He made it clear that if necessary his party the Telangana Rashtra Samithi will play a key role in national politics for the larger interest of the country. KCR's upcoming visit to Maharashtra on February 20 to meet Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seems to be oriented towards that direction only.

It seems that after seeing Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's thumping victory against the BJP in the last Assembly elections in the State, regional parties have started to think that by opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi in unison and raising regional issues against his government, the BJP can be defeated. Hence, major regional parties have adopted the strategy to keep the BJP at bay from their respective states.

Speaking on the issue, senior journalist and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kumar Ketkar said that "KCR is the original Congress leader. He has done a lot of work in the Youth Congress. He was accompanied by Chandrababu Naidu. However, the two leaders chose different paths to safeguard their personal ambitions and identities. Both of them started their journey in that direction. Chandrababu had gained power through Telugu Desam. KCR realized that if we want to gain power, the identity of the state of Telangana must be nurtured."

KCR started and expanded the political movement in Telangana. He approached Congress president Sonia Gandhi, using his old ties with the Congress. He assured Congress that if an independent Telangana state was created, Congress would get his support. His proposal was accepted by Congress high command. Thinking that If Telangana is separated, it will be useful for them in future, the Congress-led Government at the Centre approved the partition of Andhra Pradesh. YSR was on the side of Congress.

However, Congress felt that the void created after his death would be filled with the help of KCR. But, in 2014, Congress suffered a crushing defeat. Narendra Modi came to power. After Modi came to power, all the equations changed. Chandrababu and KCR, who had promised to stay with the Congress, moved closer to the BJP.

But after 2019, regional parties realised that the BJP takes the smaller parties along with them and swallows them. BJP played the same game with AIADMK, Akali Dal and Shiv Sena. After the BJP announced One Nation, One Election, One Ration campaign, the regional parties realized the BJP's plan. Therefore, the regional parties started opposing Modi for their own survival.

First, Mamata Banerjee, then Telugu Desam and Shiv Sena revolted. Seeing the signs of rebellion raised by the smaller parties, KCR also started to vehemently oppose the BJP Government at the Centre. These regional parties are sure that if they all come together and challenge Modi, they will be able to expand their influence in their respective states. That is the reason why, even though the influence of Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena is limited to Maharashtra and the growth of KCR's party is limited to Telangana, they are using the tactics of coming together to oppose Modi. Initially, this was an attempt to sideline the Congress. However, realizing that this is not possible, the three parties have now started trying to form a united front by aligning themselves with the secular parties.

Former MP Dr Bhalchandra Mungekar opined that "if regional parties want to oppose PM Narendra Modi and show unity, then they should stop behaving irresponsibly. It is time for the opposition parties to forget their internal differences and fight together. There is a need to focus more on how the BJP can be defeated than who will lead."