'One nation, one poll' deliberation today: KCR to skip Narendra Modi's meeting with party chiefs, son KT Rama Rao to represent TRS

Hyderabad: Telengana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) President and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao would not attend Wednesday’s meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the “one nation, one election” issue, among others. [caption id=“attachment_2787590” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. PTI[/caption] KT Rama Rao, working president of the party and son of the chief minister, would represent the TRS in the meeting, a senior leader said on Tuesday. “Working President KT Rama Rao will attend”, TRS Parliamentary Party leader K Keshava Rao told PTI. KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known as, had skipped the prime minister’s swearing-in ceremony on 30 May and also the NITI Aayog meeting last week. Sources in TRS said, KCR is busy with preparations for the 21 June inauguration of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project that would utilise water from the Godavari river, which flows through Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. He has personally invited Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Jagan Mohan Reddy, respectively, for the event. KCR also chaired a meeting of the Cabinet on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he is slated to preside over the party state executive meeting. On Monday, senior TRS leader B Vinod Kumar had said referring to the “one nation, one election” idea is going to be a herculean task. Vinod Kumar, a former Lok Sabha member, noted his party had put forth its views on simultaneous elections before the Law Commission during the NDA government’s previous term that “it would be better to have all polls at one go”. “It was our opinion then and it still is,” Kumar, who served as the deputy floor leader of the TRS in the 16th Lok Sabha, had told PTI. But, he pointed out that implementing the idea is not going to be an easy task as elections are held in different states at different intervals. Kumar said the government is yet to spell out the modalities on how the new poll system would be put in place, adding, his party would be able to give “concrete opinion” once the Centre comes out with details of its implementation.