New Delhi: Ending weeks of speculation and hints, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday met governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and conveyed the cabinet’s decision to dissolve the assembly, recommending early polls. The governor is set to forward the cabinet’s resolution to the Election Commission for approval.
Telangana’s assembly elections were set to take place concurrently with the 2019 Lok Sabha ones, but could now be brought forward to November-December, when Rajasthan. Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram go to the ballot.
The governor accepted the recommendation, a press statement said, and asked Rao and his cabinet to continue in office as a caretaker government. The state government also issued a government order (GO) authorising the CM and his ministers to continue as caretaker government.
Elections notification expected in October, elections to follow soon
Later addressing the press at the TRS party office, Rao said the cabinet had decided to bring the election forward to end the “political fragility” in the state. He said allegations levelled by opposition parties against his government were “totally baseless”. “These allegations are hurting the state’s growth. To put them to rest, the cabinet has decided to call for elections. The people’s court will now decide,” he said.
The CM said that he had personally spoken to the chief election commissioner and said the election notification is expected in October. “There is no confusion about elections. It will be held along with the four other states, either in late in November or first week of December,” he said.
Rao released a list of 105 candidates. The remaining 14 would soon be finalised, he said. Two sitting MLAs have been dropped. “The candidates were finalised only after intensive surveys. Surveys show that TRS will get at least 50% vote share in 100 constituencies. Even if all opposition parties join hands, we will still win those seats,” he said.
The party would contest the elections alone, he said. “MIM is a friendly party for us. They offered their support voluntarily and we work together,” he said. He rejected claims that he was trying to inch closer to the BJP, stating, “We are a secular party, there is no question of joining hands with the BJP. Amit Shah had also rejected the possibility of aligning with us.” His relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was limited to governance, he said, adding there were no political connotations to his meetings with him.
Checking off his government’s achievements over the past four years, he said the state’s revenue had increased by 17.17% on average every year. These were facts released by the Union finance ministry, he said. His party had implemented all the promises made in the manifesto and had even implemented 76 schemes that were not mentioned, Rao said. He boasted that the crime rate had decreased and there were no incidents of communal violence reported under his tenure.
The CM launched into a tirade against the Congress, which he said was “Telangana’s enemy number one”. He criticised the party’s role in the creation of Andhra Pradesh state in 1956 and also for its delay in bifurcating it. The TRS government had been undoing Congress’s misgovernance towards the people of Telangana, he claimed. Rubbishing claims that Congress was resurgent in the state, he questioned why the party was “afraid” of going to polls early. He also labelled Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the “biggest buffoon in the country”.
Weeks of speculation
Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi had an overwhelming majority in the assembly and on September 2 held a massive rally near the outskirts of Hyderabad which was dubbed as a ‘progress report’ of the government’s performance over the past four years. A cabinet meeting was held hours before the meeting, during which Rao said his colleagues had authorised him to take the final call on early polls.
Setting the play for dissolution of the assembly, chief secretary S.K. Joshi on Monday had requested all the departments to submit proposals that needed cabinet approval. After the proposals had been cleared on Wednesday, the cabinet meeting on Thursday cleared the stage for dissolution.
Rao has been floating the idea of a ‘federal front’ to tackle the BJP-Congress duopoly at the Centre, meeting several regional party leaders who – like him – have stayed away from both the NDA and UPA. The TRS believes that holding state and Lok Sabha elections simultaneously would not be favourable to it, as it would not highlight its ‘development and welfare schemes’. Bringing the elections forward would allow Rao and his party to navigate both the elections appropriately.
Observers and analysts in the state also suggest bringing the elections forward would also allow the TRS to cash in on recently launched welfare schemes. The Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima schemes were launched in quick succession to provide relief to landed farmers. While the Rythu Bandhu scheme provided investment support to landed farmers, the Rythu Bima secures Rs 5 lakh insurance for them.
According to The News Minute, a potentially first political rally of an election campaign is being planned at Husnabad in Siddipet district on September 7. Called ‘Prajala Aashirwad Sabha’ [People’s Blessing], it is the first of 100 public meetings planned by TRS over a period of 50 days. The party has also been preparing an election manifesto and MLA candidate lists.
Congress election manifesto released
However, once it became obvious that the cabinet was going to dissolve the assembly, rival political parties have also swung into action. The Congress on Wednesday launched its election manifesto, promising double bedroom houses, filling one lakh government positions. The party said the manifesto would be revised based on suggestions from the people.
The Congress is also open to a tie-up with Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which is in power in Andhra Pradesh, but saw its numbers poached by TRS in Telangana. According to the Economic Times, AICC Telangana in-charge R.C. Khuntia said the party would be open for alliance talks with “all parties including TDP, except TRS and BJP”.
Election commission “prepared” to conduct election
Telangana’s chief electoral officer Rajat Kumar recently stated that the election body was prepared to conduct election. A report in the New Indian Express said the draft electoral rolls contained 2.61 crore voters. In 2014, the number was 2.81 lakh. The reduction in number was due to some people moving to Andhra Pradesh, while some names were also removed due to mismatch of details in voter and Aadhaar cards. The state election commission needs 84,000 VVPAT control units and 1.23 lakh ballot units, the report said.