Political circles see striking similarities between former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, TDP chief N.Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister, TRS chief K.Chandrashekar Rao in dealing with the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
TDP was an ally of BJP-led NDA from 2014 to 2019. But prior to 2019 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Naidu came out of NDA and started attacking BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Though BJP has no base in AP and can never be a ‘political threat’ to TDP, Naidu made attempts to emerge as a strong national leader and dethrone BJP and Modi at the Centre in 2019 Lok Sabha polls by bringing all non-BJP parties together.
Naidu paid a heavy price as he himself lost 2019 Assembly polls in AP and also failed to stop BJP and Modi from coming to power again in 2019.
In Telangana, although TRS was never an ally of BJP-led NDA, it’s an open secret that TRS maintained secret ties with BJP, supported BJP on all the issues in the Parliament and earned the name of B-team of BJP.
Even in Telangana, BJP is no political threat to TRS as the party won just one seat in 2018 Assembly polls and won two Assembly bypoll seats later with much difficulty. Despite this, KCR decided to take on BJP and Modi like Naidu did in 2019.
KCR has decided to bring all non-BJP parties together against Modi and BJP for 2024 Lok Sabha polls to dethrone them from power at the Centre.
If KCR succeeds in his mission, he will get national and international acclaim. But if he fails, he would face a worst political crisis of his life similar to what Naidu has been experiencing now.
Did KCR fail to learn lessons from Naidu’s attempts or is KCR over-confident that he is more capable than Naidu are the questions being debated in political circles? In any case, time will answer these questions in 2018 Assembly polls in Telangana.