KCR - From aggression to conciliation

Hyderabad : Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao appears to be a changed man. KCR, who till recently had adopted an aggressive and confrontationist stance towards both Congress and BJP, changed his tack and began making conciliatory gestures to them.

Even on some of the policy issues too, KCR has reviewed the decisions of his cabinet colleagues and acted in deference to the wishes of people.

KCR's speech in the Assembly while winding up debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address on Friday reflected his friendly attitude towards the Narendra Modi led BJP government at the Centre.

Before that he took a path of confrontation with the Centre. This line of building bridges with the Centre comes against the backdrop of KCR's visit to Delhi soon to lobby a package for Telangana.

KCR now wants to improve his relations with the Prime Minister and other union ministers to secure their approval for his wish-list. Before the elections, KCR was vehement in his opposition towards BJP led NDA and vowed never to join the saffron brigade. He preferred to join a third front at the Centre, in case the UPA fares poorly.

KCR didn't even spare Modi during the election campaign and said: 'Modi is Telangana Dushman.' KCR ridiculed Modi's remarks that the UPA government had killed the mother (Telugu spirit) while giving birth to child, (Telangana State).

In the same vein, KCR didn't invite Modi or any BJP ministers to his swearing in ceremony. Even on the administrative front, KCR is aware of possible public outcry to some of his policy decisions ' like imposing restrictions on the farmers' loan waiver and the change of number plates of automobiles from AP to TS etc.

On these two issues, the comments made by Telangana ministers evoked loud protests from the public. Then, KCR quickly swung into action and contained the damage. KCR's conciliatory stance was confirmed in his speech in the Assembly on Friday.

Not just crediting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for granting Telangana, KCR acknowledged the role of Modi and other senior BJP leaders for their solid support to the bifurcation of the State.

These open compliments to their leaders from the chief minister have softened the members of Congress and BJP in the Assembly.

Going a step further, KCR told the Opposition parties in the House, that he would run the government by consensus and take along all of them.

A bemused Opposition, on its part, turned soft towards KCR too. This bonhomie is expected to last for some more time. KCR knows fully well that he needs the co-operation of all parties in times to come as he will have to lead all party delegations to Delhi on many issues.