Presidential Elections Likely To Have Spurred Telanagana CM Into Action

TRS insiders reported that Telangana CM KCR’s back-to-back meetings with Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai are the topmost priority for Rao at this stage.

Rao wants to unite all Opposition parties within 5 months by July this year to put up a common Opposition candidate and trounce the BJP-led NDA candidates in the upcoming President and Vice President elections and prepare the ground for 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Although KCR, Thackeray and Pawar did not mention anything about the elections for the posts of President and Vice President while speaking to the media on Sunday.

The elections for President of India are scheduled for July this year and for Vice President in August. The TRS supported NDA candidate Ramnath Kovind in the Presidential election held in July 2017 and supported NDA candidate M. Venkaiah Naidu in the Vice Presidential election held in August in 2017. The 5-year tenure of Kovind and Naidu will end in July and August.

Although the NDA enjoys a considerable majority to win President and Vice President elections, Rao believes that the situation would change after March 10 with the announcement of Assembly elections results in 5 states.

KCR expects the BJP to lose major states Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The TRS insiders say in the meetings Rao talked about how the NDA's strength would come down after Assembly results in 5 states on March 10 and how the Opposition parties can exploit this opportunity with their unity.

Rao reportedly told both the leaders that the President and Vice President elections would give an ideal opportunity for non-BJP parties to come together to defeat the BJP.