One more shot at national politics: on K. Chandrasekhar Rao

It will not be an easy task for K. Chandrasekhar Rao to forge a non-BJP, non-Congress front

Will Telangana Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao take the plunge into national politics ahead of the next general elections? A series of political developments in the last few weeks have prompted this question yet again.

First, CPI(M) top leaders, including the party’s general secretary Sitaram Yechury, called on Mr. Rao recently in Hyderabad. They discussed the latest political developments at the national level against the backdrop of the Assembly elections to five States. CPI national general secretary D. Raja too called on Mr. Rao. The Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, also came with an invite from his father, Lalu Prasad, for Mr. Rao to enter national politics.

Mr. Rao has been toying with the idea of a federal front — a non-Congress, non-BJP platform — since March 2018. During his meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that year, he promised to come up with a secular alternative at the Centre.