K Chandrashekhar Rao pitches for federal front, but regional parties' diverse interests may put a spanner

Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s attempt to stitch a federal front consisting of regional players also led him to give the assurance that he will play an active role in the state even after the 2019 elections. However, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief’s confidence is fraught with problems and his path to South Block full of pitfalls. A number of factors may queer KCR’s pitch, including a change in equation after the formation of Telangana,  lack of unity among regional parties, turf wars between parties within same states, water conflicts between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over Krishna and Godavari, between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on Cauvery, and border disputes with Maharashtra and Karnataka. The demand for special category status for Andhra Pradesh is a classic example of regional parties demonstrating conflicting interests. After Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) walked out of the BJP-led NDA over the issue, KCR was expected to pilot the no-confidence motion in Parliament in defence of the sibling state to portray himself as vanguard of the so-called federal front. Instead, his fellow TRS members have been accused of working at cross-purposes in the Parliament. Similarly, Tamil Nadu’s AIADMK, whose non-stop protests over the Centre’s reluctance to set up a Cauvery Water Management Board in view of elections in neighbouring Karnataka, has become a roadblock to the Opposition’s attempt to introduce the no-trust motion. So where is the unity? [caption id=“attachment_4421093” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image K Chandrashekhar Rao. AFP[/caption] KCR’s dream to lead third front far-fetched In Andhra Pradesh, the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the opposition YSR Congress have been engaged in power battles on the common issue of special category status for the state, instead of putting up a unified fight against the Centre. In fact, both chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and leader of Opposition YS Jagan Mohan Reddy have competed with each other to curry favours from the BJP-led dispensation. In the 2014 general election, Naidu, whose party won 16 seats, forced rival Jagan Mohan Reddy to miss the bus by striking a post-poll deal with BJP. But Reddy too has expressed an inclination to align with the saffron party, hoping for a breather from cases relating to acquisition of illicit wealth, in which he is attending court trials once in a week. For that matter, KCR too pursued politics of convenience by sailing with the Congress-led UPA until his separate statehood demand was achieved, and then opted to be a “non-NDA ally” in 2014. Andhra Pradesh was created in 1956 when the princely state of Hyderabad was merged with all Telugu speaking areas. The long-drawn movement in Telangana challenging Andhra Pradesh’s hegemony culminated in the bifurcation of the state in 2014. Due to this, Andhra Pradesh has 25 Lok Sabha seats, while Telangana has 17 seats. The undivided state of Andhra Pradesh had 42 seats earlier, equal to West Bengal’s share and next only to Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The present numbers do not favour either KCR or Naidu to play a lead role in national politics. With this poor bargaining power, KCR’s positioning as a mascot of regional parties at the national level and leading larger states like Uttar Pradesh is a far-fetched dream. With just 25 seats in his state’s kitty, Chandrababu Naidu, a leader with a national stature, prefers to lend his ear to ground realities. Around the time of KCR’s federal front pitch, Naidu told a TV channel he had to decline the offer of the prime minister’s post in the past due to the inherent problems hampering the ecosystem of regional parties. Opposition parties are still trying to get the TDP into the club. Front without Congress road to a ‘khichdi’ government? The angst among regional parties can be understood from the manner in which the Modi dispensation worked against the spirit of cooperative federalism. Unfair sharing of funds among states through the 15th Finance Commission has provided fresh breeding ground for the creation of a third front. But regional parties are badly in need of a leadership with a pan-India appeal for making the front a viable option with a common agenda. Janata Dal (S) leader HD Deve Gowda, who served as a prime minister for less than a year, has not been able to play an active role. His son and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy held on to power with the help of the BJP, but failed to grow beyond his state. In Tamil Nadu, all players are struggling to fill the vacuum caused by Jayalalithaa’s death. Syam Kishore, general secretary of the BJP’s Andhra Pradesh unit, dismisses the third front, saying it was only born out of the leadership tussle between Naidu and KCR at the national level. “When Naidu was trying to script his exit from the NDA to position himself in national politics, KCR pre-empted him by floating a federal front. It will not affect the NDA in any manner,” he says. While KCR may not be able to bell the cat, hopes are being pinned on West Bengal chief minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee , who has met leaders from across party lines, like TRS, TDP, Biju Janata Dal, Karunanidhi’s DMK, Lalu Prasad’s RJD and even the Shiv Sena, in a bid to keep the momentum alive. Senior Congress leader and former union minister JD Seelam recalls the past failed experiments of regional parties which led the national front and the united front —“khichdi” governments with no stability. “Such moves, without the involvement of the Congress, cannot combat the BJP’s onslaught on the federal spirit and pluralistic fabric of the country. The federal front without national parties is just like a train without engine,” he says. While Mamata’s meetings with Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and BSP’s Mayawati may hold the key, it remains to be seen how strong the positioning of a federal front will be. (Nagaraja Gali is a Vijayawada-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com , a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)