KCR changes tack, says not aiming to topple central govt

Drops His Plan For Front; Says India Needs A New Agenda

- Koride Mahesh

In a major shift from his efforts to stitch up a coalition of non-Congress and non-BJP parties, TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday said he was not in favour of forming any political front ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Instead, he said the country needed an alternative agenda on the lines of the TRS which took birth to run a statehood movement.

Addressing the party's 21st foundation day meeting here, KCR said that Left parties had met him recently and suggested a united effort to dislodge BJP at the Centre.

"I clearly told them that removing or making PMs was a bad idea. Ultimately, democracy should win."

The latest comments are very different from his consistent rhetoric against the BJP of the past few months. On April 11, he had held a dharna in Delhi and told PM Narendra Modi not to play with farmers' sentiments or the people would topple his government.

During his speech on Wednesday, he, however, added that the country urgently needs an alternative agenda. He had even come across suggestions to change TRS name into 'Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi' (BRS) by turning it (TRS is a regional party) into a national party. But he stopped short of saying if he was considering the name change.