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Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao submits to Governor ESL Narsimhan his government's recommendation for dissolving the Assembly, and his resignation as chief minister, in Hyderabad, Thursday.(PTI9_6_2018_000126B)[/caption]
Hyderabad, Sep. 6 (PTI): Ending weeks of speculation, the Telangana government recommended the dissolution of the state assembly Thursday, official sources said.
A resolution recommending the dissolution of the House was adopted at a meeting of the state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao this afternoon.
Shortly afterwards, Rao drove to Raj Bhavan and handed over the resolution to Governor ESL Narasimhan, who accepted the Cabinet’s decision.
“The Governor, while accepting the recommendation of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers has requested K Chandrashekar Rao and his Council of Ministers to continue in office as a caretaker government. Chandrasekhar Rao has agreed to this request,” a Raj Bhavan press communiqué said.
This brings the curtains down on the first elected Legislative Assembly in Telangana.
The Council of Ministers led by Rao assumed office on June 2, 2014, the day Telangana came into existence as the 29th state of India.
Speculation was rife for quite some time that Rao may go in for an early poll as the opposition in the state was in a disarray.
The final decision on whether to hold an early election now rests with the Election Commission.
In normal circumstances, election to the Telangana assembly would coincide with the Lok Sabha polls.
Sources in the ruling party said Rao wanted to cash in on what he believes was a “positive atmosphere” in favour of his government.
The BJP, however, was ambiguous on the issue, with its state spokesman Krishna Sagar Rao saying voters had already made up their minds about whom to vote and will stick to it.
Keeping in mind the “electoral pattern nationally” the BJP certainly feels that it has an edge whenever polls are held.
Sources in the TRS said Rao was upbeat about his continued popularity among the electorate.
“The idea is to encash the positive mood among the people. Rao has played safe,” a TRS leader said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The party-wise strength in the 120-member Telangana Legislative Assembly before its dissolution was TRS-82, Congress-17, AIMIM-7, BJP-5, TDP-3, Vacant-2, the
CPI, CPI(M), indipendent and nominated member (one each).
The TRS had bagged 63 seats in the 2014 polls but its strength rose over time with 19 MLAs from the opposition, including 12 from the TDP, three of the YSR Congress and two of the Bahujan Samaj Party joining it.
Opposition parties attack CM over early poll move
Opposition parties Thursday hit out at Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for the early elections move, charging him with indulging in “obfuscation politics” prompted by fears that TRS would be unable to return to power if polls were to be held next year.
The main opposition Congress said the Chief Minister owed an explanation to the people as to what necessitated him to cut short the Assembly tenure.
The State was formed after “so much of struggle and sacrifices,” and people had so many hopes on development, farm issues and employment generation but those promises have not been fulfilled, the Chief spokesperson of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee Sravan Dasoju told PTI.
Alleging a “dubious pact” pact between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rao, he claimed that if simultaneous polls were to be held for Lok Sabha and Telangana Assembly as scheduled next year, it would have turned into a Rahul Gandhi versus Modi fight in states like Telangana benefitting the Congress.
Sravan said in the event of simultaneous elections, minorities would choose between BJP and Congress, and not TRS. “He (Rao) wants to manoeuvre the minority votes, that it won’t come to Congress”, he alleged.
Charging the Chief Minister with indulging in “obfuscation politics,” the BJP said Rao has “full-scale fear” that he might not be able to come back to power if elections are held as per schedule next year.
Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao claimed that it may not be technically possible to schedule the Telangana elections with that of four other States where polls are due in November-December.
“I don’t think voters who would want to vote for certain party would actually change their mind because elections come three months or four months prior to regular schedule,” he said.
“Once the voters make up their mind to vote for some party, they would stick to their decision, that’s what we believe.”
In view of the “electoral pattern nationally,” Rao said, the BJP certainly feels that it has an edge whenever polls are held, and added that his party is ready for it.
The state unit expects BJP President Amit Shah and Modi to address public rallies as part of election campaign, he said.
The National General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said the Chief Minister is “getting afraid that he will get more isolated if elections are held next year. That’s why he wants elections as early as possible”.
On the one hand, the Chief Minister is backing the idea of simultaneous elections in the country and on the other, “he wants elections right now. He (Rao) is telling opposition is not ready yet (for polls),” Reddy added.
Hours after dissolution of the Telangana state Assembly on Thursday, ruling TRS announced candidates for 105 constituencies.
Caretaker Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) President K. Chandrasekhar Rao released the list of candidates.
He announced the names at a news conference at TRS headquarters -- Telangana Bhavan. He said only two sitting candidates were denied tickets.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said candidates for the remaining 14 constituencies will be announced soon. He was addressing the media a couple of hours after the cabinet meeting, which recommended dissolution of the Assembly to pave way for early polls. Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan accepted the recommendation.
KCR was confident that fresh elections to the state Assembly will be held in November.
“There is no confusion over this,” he said, adding that he has already spoken to the Chief Election Commissioner and requested him to hold the polls at the earliest.
