HYDERABAD: TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will chair a joint meeting of party MPs, MLAs and MLCs and state executive committee members at Telangana Bhavan on Tuesday.
Rao’s sudden decision taken on Sunday evening has triggered speculation in TRS ranks as well as in political circles over the purpose of the emergency meeting.
The meeting assumes significance as it comes against the backdrop of a series of developments — the likelihood of the party getting the Election Commission’s approval for renaming itself as Bharat Rashtra Samiti by December 7, the poachgate attempt to lure party MLAs, the Munugode bypoll win and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit where he lashed out at TRS government’s ‘corruption and family rule.’
Party sources said the main objective of the meeting was to gear up the leaders for the Assembly elections scheduled for December 2023 and to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warnings and criticism made against TRS government during his visit to Telangana on November 12 while addressing the BJP workers at Begumpet airport and a public meeting at Ramagundam on the same day.
Sources said the CM wanted to instil confidence among party leaders and cadre in the meeting by sending a clear message across that the TRS was bound to achieve ‘hat-trick’ by retaining power for third term in December 2023 Assembly polls and that the BJP has no scope to come to power in Telangana and the recent Munugode bypoll result had proved this beyond doubt.
This apart, the Chief Minister is likely to discuss plans to expand the BRS to other states and his plans to hold a huge rally in Delhi or Uttar Pradesh to formally announce the launch of the BRS in December second week, sources said.
Rao is also expected to guide party leaders on facing Assembly elections and check the rise of BJP in Telangana. However, Rao’s sudden decision to hold this meeting triggered speculations in political circles over the possibility of CM going for early polls again.
In his first term from 2014, Rao had dissolved the Assembly nine months in advance in September 2018 against the original tenure of May 2019. Rao’s gamble worked and TRS retained power.
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