KCR prefers Third Front to NDA - TeluguPeople.com News

KARIMNAGAR: With an eye on minority votes, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao asserted that his party will under no circumstances support 'communal' forces. Kickstarting his poll campaign in Telangana at a massive public meeting here, he said, 'I am making a policy statement. TRS will not align with communal forces. We will support the Third Front. We are a 100% secular party. We will not join the NDA.'

Predicting that the BJP-led NDA will not cross the 200 mark, he said, 'Several national leaders, including Mamata Banjerjee, Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik, are in touch with me.

All of them want a non-BJP, non-Congress formation at the Centre.' Promising 12% quota for Muslims in education and employment, he declared, 'This is KCR's word. We will provide this quota, come what may.'

He went on to guarantee that his party would make sure that Telangana remained secular and sought people's support. 'If we have a good number of MPs, we will be able to get clearances for our projects,' he told his audience.

KCR's policy statement assumes significance as Muslims form a sizeable chunk of the population in Telangana and in Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency, where BJP's Ch Vidyasagara Rao is in the fray with TDP's support, they could well determine the outcome.

TRS candidate Vinod Kumar is locking horns with Vidyasagara Rao and P Prabhakar of the Congress here. KCR's secular card is also being seen as a strategy to wean away Muslims from the Congress.

Congress leaders have managed to persuade the MIM, which has some presence in Karimnagar, not to contest and instead, support Ponnam.

When KCR arrived at the venue, SRR College grounds, it was chock a block with crowds jostling to catch his glimpse. For KCR, the venue holds special significance since it was here that he had addressed his first public meeting after floating the TRS on May 17, 2001.

One of the more enthusiastic among the crowd, an agriculture labourer, K Yadagiri from Teegalagutta near Karimnagar, told Express, 'I am an SC but I have faith in KCR. He alone can put the Telangana State in order.'

Perhaps, reaching out to people like Yadagiri, KCR, in his 45-minute address, said, 'All of you are aware that Congress leaders have no vision. They had led their lives playing second fiddle to Seemandhra leaders. They have no intellect and cannot think of anything or have the mettle to take the state forward.'

In his inimitable style, KCR also recalled, 'TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu had said TRS will disappear in six months. But those who said that have now disappeared from Telangana.' The crowd were ecstatic as he sent them into peals of laughter with his stinging and sarcastic remarks against the TDP and the Congress.

Singling out TPCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah, he said, 'We have said we will provide decent two-bed room houses for weaker sections. Is it promising the moon? Similarly, we promised loan waiver for farmers, enhancement of pensions to the physically challenged, aged and widows.

Ponnala says if TRS promises have to be implemented, the state would require `8 lakh crore. But we are not like the Congress! They want `8 lakh crore because they want to pocket 75% of the budget!' He threatened to force Congress leaders to cough up every misappropriated penny after coming to power. 'We will not leave them,' he warned.

Listing his priorities, he said the main task for the TRS after coming to power would be providing irrigation facilities and power supply to farmers and ensuring compulsory free education to children from KG to PG.