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KCR, Stalin to discuss quota, Front
TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao has found a comrade in arms in DMK working president MK Stalin and they are likely to announce an action plan for stronger states, particularly with regard to investing them with power to decide reservations for certain communities who do not yet have access to fruits of development.
​Hyderabad: TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao has found a comrade in arms in DMK working president MK Stalin and they are likely to announce an action plan for stronger states, particularly with regard to investing them with power to decide reservations for certain communities who do not yet have access to fruits of development.
KCR will meet the DMK leader at Chennai on Sunday as part of seeking support from the Tamil party to his Federal Front – an initiative of KCR to craft a coalition to serve as an alternative to the BJP and Congress at the national level.
Stalin, who is neck deep in his legal fight to have 11 AIADMK legislators disqualified under the anti-defection law and for the removal of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa's portrait from the Assembly, has agreed to squeeze time to see KCR and discuss with him an action plan to press for stronger states and reduced role for the Centre in the new scheme of things that KCR is visualising for future India.
KCR, to consolidate the regional parties under the Front, will also meet DMK patriarch MK Karunanidhi. However, the schedule has not yet been finalised. In fact, KCR left no one in doubt at Friday's TRS plenary on his future course of action in regard to playing a bigger role at the national level and scoffed at the argument that he was dreaming up the Federal Front only to help the BJP by dividing the Opposition vote.
He confronted the BJP as to whether it alone should attack the Congress and whether there was no scope for the emergence of another axis of power to question the Congress and the BJP.
As regards the fight for increasing quota for the Muslims and STs, KCR has already set the ball rolling by asking his MPs to raise the issue in Parliament which they did. KCR wanted the reservations should go up in proportion to the population of a particular community.
The Telangana Assembly passed a bill enhancing reservations in April last year for the Muslims and Scheduled Tribes for admission to educational institutions and for state services from 4 to 12 per cent and 6 to 10 per cent, respectively and sent it to the Centre as the total reservations would go beyond 50 per cent, exceeding the ceiling set by the Supreme Court.
In the meeting between KCR and Stalin, the reservations issue will take a centre stage as the DMK leader has already extended support to the TRS chief on the issue. Stalin wrote to KCR in November last year and expressed his readiness to launch a movement on state powers and reservations. He supported KCR’s efforts to uphold the state’s rights to determine reservations policies in the letter.
The two leaders also decided to mobilize the support of other states on the issue. "KCR will discuss the exemption given to Tamil Nadu by the Supreme Court in providing reservations more than the ceiling of 50 per cent and seek the DMK help in availing similar provision by Telangana, a confidant of KCR said.
Besides, KCR will also discuss with the DMK about its support to the Federal Front and invite the party to join hands with him in forming a strong anti-BJP and anti-Congress force before 2019 elections in the country. The issues to be included in the agenda of the Federal Front will be deliberated in the meeting.
