KCR’s skipping of H D Kumaraswamy swearing-in buoys up TRS

​Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s decision to skip the swearing-in ceremony of JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy on Friday was a topic of discussion within the party as some of the leaders said that it was a good decision to avoid the embarrassment of joining hands with Congress party against which the TRS is fighting in the State.

The Chief Minister skipped the swearing-in ceremony of Kumaraswamy and instead paid a visit to the residence a day he was sworn in. Leaders in the party felt that the decision of the Chief Minister would help the party in the long run since it had helped the party in avoiding the embarrassment of sharing the stage with the Congress party. The TRS chief has been pitching for a front of anti-Congress and anti-BJP parties. He had asked the voters in Karnataka to vote for JDS. 

Sources in the party said the TRS leaders had advised the Chief Minister not to go to Karnataka at all. The leaders are said to have told the Chief Minister that it would be better to avoid going as the alliance between the Congress and JDS was against the mandate of the people and showed the campaigns across various social media platforms against the alliance in Karnataka. However, the Chief Minister decided to meet the JDS leaders individually a day before the swearing-in ceremony. 

“Our party is principal opposition against Congress in the State and it would give wrong message to the people had CM sir attended the swearing-in ceremony along with them. There is a strong social media campaign against the leaders attending the event and it would have given a wrong message to the party cadre in the State,” said a TRS leader. Another leader said there is no need for the party to join hands with the Congress because the BJP is not at all a force in Telangana State and hence the CM had no obligation to share the stage with Congress like other parties did. 

TRS State Secretary G Ramchandra Rao said Chief Minister KCR was preoccupied with official programmes, and hence, he could not visit Bengaluru for swearing-in ceremony. He said the CM was pitching for a Federal Front and not a political front. The fronts during the recent past have been political and not issues-based whereas CM KCR has been pitching for front for qualitative change. “Here also some parties want front against BJP with Congress as partner like old times. There will be no survival for any front formed with political motive and only those fronts formed on issues would survive,” said Rao.