Hyderabad, May 9 (Inditop) In what could be a blow to the Third Front, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) Saturday said it would support any party that promises a separate state of Telangana and dropped hints that it could go with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after the polls.
“Our main agenda is Telangana?”, TRS leader B. Vinod Kumar told reporters in New Delhi, adding: “We will support any party that promises a separate state.” The TRS wants Telangana to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.
“We may back the NDA but we will see the results first,” he said.
TRS president K. Chandrasekhara Rao has agreed to address an election rally of the Shiromani Akali Dal, a constituent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA, in Ludhiana Sunday.
TRS sources here said Akali Dal chief and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal invited Rao to address the rally. The TRS chief, who is camping in Delhi to lobby for separate statehood to the Telangana region, will be leaving for Ludhiana along with party ideologue and intellectual Jayashankar.
TRS fought the Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh assembly elections last month in alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and two Left parties. The four parties fought the polls under the banner of ‘mahakutami’ or the grand alliance.
TRS’ tilt towards the NDA would be a blow to the Third Front, of which the TDP and the Left parties are the main constituents. Before the elections, the TRS chief had attended a few meetings for formation of the Third Front.
Immediately after the second and final phase of polls April 23, TRS chief had stated that the party would back any formation ready to accept their demand for a separate Telangana state.
Jayashankar has told a television channel that the TRS would back the NDA at the centre as it has promised to carve out a separate Telangana within 100 days of coming to power.
He said since the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has betrayed the cause of Telangana and the Third Front is ambiguous on the issue, the TRS would not support them in the formation of the next government at the centre.
TRS fought nine Lok Sabha and 45 assembly seats in the Telangana region.
