Big Deccan meet: Tipu, Kejri, KCR whip up anti-BJP frenzy; Didi, Nitish absent

A day after BJP belted out the 2023 plan to win the 2024 elections at its two-day executive meet, an anti-BJP front led by Telangana CM KCR held a mega-rally in Khammam, Telangana.

The public meeting, organized by Telangana CM KCR was attended by opposition heavyweights including Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Kerala CM Pinaryi Vijayan, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, CPI leader D Raja among others who had all flown to Khamman around 200 km away from the state capital, on his invitation.

The meeting, which saw a massive turnout, assumes political significance as it is the first public meeting after the TRS decided to go national by renaming itself as BRS.

Addressing the massive crowd that had gathered in Khammam, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav said, “If BJP is getting wiped out from Telangana then Uttar Pradesh will also not lag behind. You remove them from Telangana, we will together work to remove them from UP.”

Targeting the BJP, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in an address said, “Today, we have a situation- a political formation which wasn’t a part of our national freedom struggle is in power in the country. Followers of those who tendered unconditional apologies to colonisers and promised to serve the imperial crown are at the helm of affairs today.”

Later he tweeted, “The massive public meeting held in Khammam attended by various CMs and national leaders sends a strong warning to the communal politics of Sangh Parivar. People’s will to fight their divisive agenda by upholding democratic values shall prevail. We shall overcome!”

Delhi CM while speaking at the event focused on the frayed Governor/L-G and Chief Minister relationship in all non-BJP ruled states. “Governor of Tamil Nadu is disturbing the functioning of Tamil Nadu CM. The same is the case in Telangana and Punjab. In Delhi, the LG doesn’t let me work. In reality, it’s not the governor who is to be blamed. It’s the Prime Minister. How will a country, whose PM thinks of troubling state governments 24×7 progress,” he questioned.

Congress was not part of this grouping either. In June last year, K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) abstained from attending a meeting convened by Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the national capital on account of Congress being extended an invitation. KCR wants to bring together parties and form a power bloc that can prove to be an alternative to both Congress and BJP.

Those who were conspicuous by their absence were TMC’s Mamata Bannerjee and JDU’s Nitish Kumar. Earlier, KCR had skipped a meeting organised by TMC precisely because Congress too was given the invitation to attend the meeting.

Nitish on his part had a few days back announced that he would be on a national yatra to unite the opposition after his samadhan yatra in Bihar ends.

Telangana, where the BJP is trying to establish itself as an alternative to the BRS, will go to polls later this year. Telangana’s ruling TRS on October 5 last year changed its name to ‘BRS’, heralding the party’s foray into national politics.

Before arriving in Khammam, KCR and the top Opposition leaders visited the Yadagirigutta in two helicopters to offer prayers at a temple. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Kerala CM Vijayan, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, CPI national general secretary D. Raja, state ministers Vemula Prashanth Reddy and Talasani Srinivas Yadav, MP Joginpally Santosh Kumar, and MLC K Kavitha were also present.

On Tuesday, the BJP’s two-day-long national executive meeting concluded to draw a roadmap for the upcoming crucial state polls that will set the tone for 2024 when PM Narendra Modi seeks a third straight term. BJP also rolled out the blueprint of its southern expansion.