TRS party taking Left turn to stay in power?

Hyderabad: The proverbial phrase is that politics brings strange bedfellows together, implying that political coalitions for a similar cause can bring people with very divergent viewpoints together. This appears to be what is happening in Telangana. TRS, which had made some efforts during the last Lok Sabha elections in 2019 to bring non-BJP parties together, now seems to be moving closer to the two Left-wing parties -- CPI and CPM.

The luncheon meeting Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had with the top brass of CPM leaders, including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPM national general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Tripura leader M Manik Sarkar, CPM Central Politburo members S Ramachandran Pillai, K Balakrishnan, M A Baby and others on Saturday gave ample indications of the moves being made by the left parties to unite regional parties which are opposed to BJP.

The CPM leaders are in the city to participate in the three-day national committee meetings. Later, CPI national general secretary D Raja, Parliamentary Party leader and MP Binoy Viswam, Kerala Revenue Minister K Rajan, Telangana CPI general secretary Chada Venkat Reddy, State secretaries Palla Venkat Reddy and Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao and others called on KCR. The CPI leaders are here to attend the All-India Youth Federation meeting.

It is learnt that leaders of the two left parties discussed the political situation in the country and on how to take on the BJP in the next elections. It may be recalled that KCR had made some efforts to form a third front before the 2019 elections. The left parties felt that there was a need to fight the BJP unitedly. However, these were only very preliminary discussions and more such meetings are likely to be held between TRS and left parties.

It may be mentioned here that the differences between the TRS and the BJP intensified after the Huzurabad by-elections and the issue of paddy purchase and the relations totally soared after the arrest of state BJP president Bandi Sanjay.

The left parties still have a good cadre and some base in old Nalgonda, Khammam, Warangal and parts of Karimnagar districts. The TRS also has a huge membership and cadre. Hence, they felt that if they could join hands, it would be helpful in defeating BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections.