KCR moots third front sans BJP, Cong

Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief and State Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has mooted a third front as a run-up to the next general elections.

“Such a third front is necessity to change the country’s growth and economic agenda. If necessary, and why not, I will lead this movement with other like-minded parties. We have had enough of the Congress and BJP, who have ruled the country for the past 70 years without much development,” said Rao.

Expressing his concern about the lopsided development agenda and direction-less growth, he said: “Even after 70 years, we are not in a position to offer drinking water to all citizens of the country and minimum support price to farmers who are backbone of the country and economy. This only reflects lopsided development.”

Announcing this after a meeting of party MPs, ahead of the second phase of the Budget session of Parliament, Rao said: “My concern is about lack of a proper development agenda for the country. Both the Congress and BJP have failed in various fronts. Therefore, there was a need for like-minded parties to come together with a development agenda for the country, which is out of the box.”

“TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, and MPs from several parties in different States, including Maharashtra, have called me up backing my move,” he said.

“Why should there be a scheme called PM Gram Sadak Yojana? Can’t States do this? There is lack of cooperative federalism. Why can’t a State decide how much reservations it can extend? We need a true cooperative federalism,” he said.

Water crisis

Referring to the water woes across various parts of the country even after 70 years, Rao said indecisiveness by various governments over the years has led to this situation. Take the case of Krishna Godavari water-sharing issue. The Brajesh Kumar Tribunal, which was constituted in 2004, is yet to resolve the issue even after 14 years. This speaks volumes of the present crisis, he said.

Mentioning the problems being faced by farmers and lack of support prices for farm produce, KCR asked: “Why we continue to see so many suicides across various parts of the country?”

Late in the evening, while speaking to supporters who had converged here from all the 31 districts of the State, he wanted to know why India cannot do what China has achieved in terms of overall growth. He said it is possible to achieve similar growth, provided we have a proper development agenda.

“With the kind of response I have received in the past 24 hours since I have proposed the Third Front, I am certain this move will pave way for new development agenda,” he said.

Budget meet

Referring to the various assurances made by the Centre as part of the AP Reorganisation Act in 2014, Rao said many of the assurances have not been fulfilled, including the setting up of an integrated steel plant, AIIMS, IIM, Tribal University, 4,000 MW by NTPC and a coach factory at Kazipet.

“Likewise, our request to the Niti Aayog to recommend ₹19,000 crore for Mission Bagiratha and ₹5,000 crore to Mission Kakitya have not been addressed. Therefore, we expect to take these issues during the Budget session of Parliament,” he said.

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