Has KCR's early poll challenge caught TRS on the wrong foot?

Hyderabad: Why did Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to go in for early elections?

The talk in TRS is that the Chief Minister is of the opinion that BJP had made in-roads in the state to some extent and if more time was given, it may get further strengthened. Hence, the pink party has thrown a challenge to BJP to go in for early elections. It may be mentioned here that so far KCR has been saying that this time he will not opt for early polls. But the party seems to be gearing up for any eventuality particularly after the National Executive meeting of the BJP.

On record, party leaders, including ministers, say that the TRS has thrown the ball into the BJP's court. But they have no reply when asked how they will stop the surge of BJP if the Centre does not announce early elections. Ministers like T Srinivas Yadav simply say that they are ready for elections anytime.

Meanwhile, the BJP and Congress leaders threw counter challenges to KCR asking him to dissolve the assembly immediately if he was so confident.

However, TRS leaders feel that they are caught in a tricky situation. If they decide to dissolve the assembly first, there is no guarantee that the Election Commission would hold elections soon. They also do not rule out the possibility of the Centre imposing President's rule in the state. Even after the end of six months of the President's rule, the Election Commission may take a decision to club Lok Sabha and TS Assembly elections together and delay the process by another six months. This would prove to be disadvantageous for the TRS as BJP and Congress will get nearly one-year time to penetrate the TRS bastions and the administration would be under control of the Governor.