Hyderabad: Even as leaders of four non-Congress opposition parties came out together at Bharat Rashtra Samiti’s (BRS) maiden public meeting at Khammam in Telangana, there was no clarity on how they would work together as a team for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Opposition heavyweights ranging from Pinarayi Vijayan, Akhilesh Yadav to Arvind Kejriwal, D. Raja attended the rally of K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) — who has been advocating for a non-Congress, non-BJP federal front — to send a message to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Leader after leader gave speeches urging the people for making a “new resistance” to the Narendra Modi government and its policies, as the Khammam rally sought to give some semblance of a federal front in the making.
The leaders criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for unemployment, farmer crisis, privatisation of public enterprises in the country, and alleged that he was trying to pull down chief ministers of non-BJP states.
That the Congress has lost footing among the opposition ranks was clear as none of these leaders hardly made its mention in spite of going all out against the BJP and harping on the need for an alternative.
Three chief ministers — Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann and Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal — shared dais with KCR. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja also joined KCR along with the leaders of Communist Party of India-Marxist and Aam Aadmi Party at Khammam.
Apart from the public meeting, KCR had invited all the leaders for inauguration of Integrated District Collectorate Complex and also for launch of the second phase of a public welfare programme, ‘Kanti Velugu’, in Telangana.
At the rally, Vijayan said that the BJP-led Union Government was destroying the federal structure of the country. He also lashed out at the BJP government for imposing Hindi at the cost of regional languages.
The CPI-M veteran, who has been a staunch critic of the Congress, said that there is a need for a ‘new resistance’ to protect the country’s secularism and democracy. “Khammam can be the beginning of that,” he asserted.
Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav said that if Telangana wipes out the BJP from their state, Uttar Pradesh will also do the same. “Remove BJP from here, UP will not be behind.”
Election in Telangana is scheduled to be held in or before December this year.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said how the Modi government was implementing schemes which were launched by KCR first in Telangana. He also praised KCR for getting leaders together on a single platform.
Yadav, who had termed that the BJP and the Congress were same, had thanked Rahul Gandhi for inviting him to the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Uttar Pradesh but did not participate.
At the rally, CPI’s D. Raja highlighted how the country is under crisis with the BJP and the RSS together attacking the Constitution and democracy of India.
As for the AAP which is often at loggerheads with the Centre, Delhi Chief Minister and party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal called out the “vengeful politics” of the BJP.
“The Tamil Nadu Governor is not letting the CM work. So is the case in Punjab, Telangana, Delhi. …it is Modi Sahab who is making calls and making Governors cause hindrance to the CMs. The call comes from Delhi and Modi is always thinking about how to pull down CMs (in non-BJP states),” Kejriwal said.
“We have come together and have been discussing development and how to change our education sector, improve farming sector…,” he said, adding that the country was asking for a change and 2024 should be an opportunity where the BJP should be thrown out of government at the Centre.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: What’s cooking between Prakash Raj & KCR? Actor to play ‘important role in national party plans’