TDP to keep mum on TRS move.TRS punctures Karat’s gas balloon. decided to maintain a “strategic silence” over Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s latest ‘run

Telugu Desam Party has decided to maintain a “strategic silence” over Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s latest ‘run with the hare and hunt with the hounds’ political tactic, till the general election results are out – apparently, to see the number of seats the regional party would bag.

An embarassed TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu is stated to have spoken to CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat over the issue and summoned a meeting of senior leaders like K. Yerran Naidu, Nagam Janardhan Reddy, Kadiam Srihari and K. Ramamohan Rao before arriving at such a decision.

TDP sources said Mr. Karat too counselled patience till the announcement of results when the actual number of seats won by political parties would be known. The Grand Alliance as well as the Third Front’s post-election strategy could then be finalised and recast if necessary accordingly, he is believed to have told Mr. Naidu.

Party’s senior leaders too concurred with the view and the refrain was to adopt a wait-and-watch policy rather than precipitate matters by reacting to the unfolding situation.

Though incensed by Mr. Rao’s ‘illogical’ move to go out of his way in supporting BJP-led NDA, the TDP drew some consolation from the fact that TRS had made it clear it would remain with the Grand Alliance in the State. Nevertheless, senior party leaders are puzzled by Mr. Rao’s “hasty and premature step” to gravitate towards NDA at a time when the Third Front had a better chance of forming the government at the Centre. It was for TRS leadership to explain why the party made common cause with NDA after the polling was over even though the BJP had promised Telangana much earlier.

In their perception, Mr. Rao’s action was merely aimed at gaining better bargaining power after elections and could still change his mind after a clear picture emerged.
Strengthening ties

Meanwhile, as part of its efforts to strengthen the relationship among the parties that have pledged their support to the Third Front, Mr. Ramamohan Rao is meeting BSP general secretary S. C. Mishra in New Delhi in a day or two. The Left may be describing the NDA as an unworkable alliance, but TRS’s decision to back BJP is a cause of worry for it. There is fear
that the decision of TRS will force TDP to have a relook at its political option at the Centre if Chandrababu Naidu’s plans in Hyderabad becomes dependent on the Telangana outfit’s support.

TRS is expected to win around 25 seats in the state assembly. In the event of a fractured verdict, TDP will not be able to form government without its backing. BJP is also banking on this changed situation to exert pressure on Mr Naidu.
The TRS development has shown that the third front is more vulnerable to poaching. BJD, which is now backing a non-Congress, non-BJP government at the Centre, may not be so rigid if Naveen Patnaik requires additional numbers to retain power in Orissa.

In such an eventuality, there could be complete disintegration of the third front. In any case, the third front proponents are not sure of the next political moves of parties like AIADMK, BSP and JD(S). While JD(S) had a secret pact with Congress in Karnataka, Ms Jayalalithaa and Ms Mayawati will not allow Leftists to decide their political preference.

AIADMK is certain to gravitate towards the party that has the wherewithal to form the next government at the Centre. There is realisation in the Left that it would not be easy to hold on to its ”allies” after May 16.

Congress, on its part, is calculating that the Left will have no other option but to do business with it. But it also realises that Prakash Karat, who has taken a tough stand, will not back Manmohan Singh. As of now, Congress is against any compromise on the leadership question. The prime minister himself told the media in Ludhiana that UPA will not re-open the leadership issue. “Congress has announced that it will lead the next government,” the prime minister said. K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s switchover to the NDA, for whom he campaigned in Amritsar today, could hurt the Left-backed third front more in Andhra Pradesh than in Delhi.

Left leaders are worried whether key Andhra ally Chandrababu Naidu might now be tempted to do a Rao, although there has so far been no concrete indication of that happening.

The problem for Naidu is, his hopes of becoming chief minister have been dealt a blow by Rao’s somersault.

In the Assembly polls held together with the Lok Sabha elections in Andhra on April 16 and 23, a “grand Opposition alliance” of the Telugu Desam, Rao’s Telengana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the Left took on the ruling Congress.

The TRS contested from 48 of the 294 Assembly constituencies, and the seats it wins would be crucial to the alliance’s chances of coming to power in Hyderabad.

Although TRS sources have suggested the possibility of “being part of the alliance in the state and supporting the NDA at the Centre”, the Left is likely to find this unpalatable.

In such a situation, if the Telugu Desam cannot form the government in Andhra, it may be tempted to return to the NDA, especially since the Congress is its biggest enemy in the state.

Rao’s switchover, which he announced at the NDA’s Ludhiana rally yesterday, may also cost the third front four or five seats at the Centre. The TRS has contested nine Lok Sabha seats.

Sources said CPI leader Sudhakar Reddy had received a hint about Rao’s plans and had been trying to reach him for three days, but couldn’t get through to him. TRS leaders apparently kept telling Reddy that Rao had travelled to Punjab “on an invitation from (Parkash Singh) Badal”, the Akali Dal chief minister.