Kodandaram to tread Kejriwal path to oust TRS government?

​Hyderabad: Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) chief Prof M Kodandaram’s first visit to national capital after establishing a new party has generated interest among political circles. Kodandaram attended the book launch event of senior Congress leader Jaipal Reddy on Wednesday evening and is scheduled to meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday evening.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh released the book titled "Ten Ideologies—The Great Asymmetry between Agrarianism and Industrialism". Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, Communist Party of India (Marxist) senior leaders Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat, former Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav, former Union Ministers and Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh and others were in attendance. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, the vice-chancellor of Ashoka University (Haryana) noted the “extraordinary galaxy” of politicians gathered at the book launch, and wondered whether the social bonhomie manifested by the presence of leaders would translate into “political unity”.

Jaipal Reddy personally invited Kodandaram for the book  launch, which the TJS chief accepted and ensured his attendance on Wednesday evening. This event gave opportunity for Kodandaram to meet key leaders of AICC, the central decision-making body of Congress party. Though there has been no official statement, the TJS sources said that politics in Telangana and likely election scenario would come up for discussion during Kodandaram's stay in New Delhi until Thursday evening.Although both Congress and TJS have been non-committal on alliance thus far, both parties aim is to prevent the ruling TRS party from forming government for the second time in a row. 

Kodandaram is scheduled to meet Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday evening. Both TJS and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have similarities in the sense that both are headed by social activists-turned-politicians. They both took a plunge into politics to defeat traditional political parties, which they claimed were not people-centric in policies and only focused on minting money and graft. 

It may be mentioned here that AAP leader Somnath Bharati and Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav met Kodandaram in April and discussed strategies to be adopted for 2019 elections. TJS wants to take the help of AAP think-tank in reaching out to people and strategise use of social media, which were crucial in defeating the powerful Congress and BJP in Delhi elections. Kodandaram and Kejriwal are likely to discuss about TJS's preparedness and strategies for elections.