KCR may find national foray a bit hard going

TRS has been nursing the ambition to play a major role in North Indian politics. The efforts in that direction started before the last general elections. But due to certain reasons, it could not take a concrete shape. With speculations gaining ground that there could be early elections to Lok Sabha, somewhere around the end of 2023, the TRS has once again started working in that direction.

The pink party is right now focussed on gaining a firm foothold in the Hindi belt and is trying to assess its strengths and weaknesses. It fully understands it is not an easy job for a party from South to make its mark in North Indian politics. Ability to speak in Hindi or showcasing the achievements or welfare schemes here may not be just enough to attract the voters there.

With so many contenders for the PM post, aligning all anti-BJP parties will be an uphill task for KCR. It is already faced with a major task, of retaining power in Telangana for the third consecutive term. Secondly, it has to make some mark in the national politics. Being popular among leaders is easier than becoming popular with the people.

Against such backdrop, the TRS has roped in political strategist Prashant Kishor who heads Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) to assess its winning chances in the state. His team has spread across the state and come out with a report that at least 30 to 40 per cent of the sitting candidates need to be changed. It has expectedly thrown the party leaders into a tizzy.

Of late, a new twist seems to be taking place in the politics of pink party. Speculations are rife that Prashant Kishor who had a brief stint with Janata Dal (United) led by Nitish Kumar is keen to get a political platform and that could be TRS. At one stage, it was said he would join Congress party and try to bring together all anti-BJP parties on one platform.

He had even made an elaborate presentation but decided not to join Congress since the grand old party wanted him just to be a member of the core team. Now, a speculation is doing rounds that he wants to join the TRS and make its dream of entering national politics a reality. It is still not clear whether TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao would give his nod or not. If PK does join TRS and take charge of the proposed national party, whose name could be Bharatiya Rashtra Samiti, being a Bihari and well-known face, he would be of some help to the part in getting some mileage.

But again, the issue is in what capacity would he be in the party? What would be his role? And what would be reaction of the rank and file of TRS is something which needs to be reckoned with. As of now, there seems to be a major churning in the party. No matter what the outcome, the political scenario is getting more and more interesting as all are convinced that general elections to Lok Sabha and several Assemblies including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are on the cards by the end of 2023.