What's brewing? KCR meets Stalin

There's a popular adage in Telugu "Swamikaryam...Swakaryam'' (God's Work & Personal Work ). However, in case of Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao ( KCR ) it's “God & Politics”. The reason being along with pilgrimage to different temples in Tamil Nadu, KCR had been craving to meet Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam ( DMK ) President M.K.Stalin. Definitely this meet assumes significance on many counts. Earlier, nearly a week ago, when KCR sent a word to DMK, the response was not favourable saying Stalin has to campaign for by-elections.

However, today, M.K.Stalin along with his trusted party men Durai Murugan and T.R.Balu personally received KCR when he came to Stalin's Alwarpet residence in Chennai around 4.00 pm though officially it was said to be “courtesy meeting”.

After exchanging pleasantries, the closed-door meeting took place for more than an hour. What transpired in the meeting is subject to speculation as none of the two sides revealed what transpired.

Ever since TRS party swept Telangana Assembly Elections last year, KCR's urge to play big role in national politics was clearly evident. As part of his grand Federal Front plans, KCR has been silently wooing Mamata Bannerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Deve Gowda-H.D.Kumaraswamy, Naveen Patnaik, Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy and now M.K.Stalin.

The interesting aspect here is why did Stalin meet KCR when he has already declared his support for Rahul Gandhi as Prime Ministerial candidate while Congress is arch-rival of KCR & TRS in Telangana politics. “As of today, there's no possibility of Third Front or Federal Front in India. Our culture is not to say no when someone wants to meet,'' said K.S.Alagiri, Tamil Nadu Congress President, while downplaying the meeting.

However, Chennai-based political analyst Sumanth C.Raman says, "Stalin apparently turned down the meeting a few days ago but has now gone ahead with it because my guess would be that the Congress is on the discussions too and may have asked Stalin to get an idea of what's on KCR's mind.''

A sharp and astute politician he is, KCR can count on only 16 Lok Sabha seats from Telangana ( if he manages to win them all ) and one seat of his trusted ally Asaduddin Owaisi of A.I.M.I.M. But with sixteen plus one, KCR wants to play kingmaker's role like his friend turned bitter political rival Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who was instrumental in making H.D.Deve Gowda the Prime Minister in United Front days.

On the other hand, KCR's critics in Hyderabad say the Telangana Chief Minister wants to project himself as a national leader. “There's nothing called Federal Front. KCR just wants to project himself as national leader. He talks about decentralisation. Look at Telangana today, it's either KCR or his son KTR. They openly buy MPs or MLAs, they virtually finished opposition in Telangana,'' charges P.L.Vishweshwara Rao, former Dean, Osmania University.

With just last and seventh phase of Lok Sabha polls to take place on May 19 and results on May 23, no one, including KCR wants to leave any stone unturned to have a say in national politics.