HYDERABAD: Despite Telangana Chief Minister and TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao’s assertion a few days ago that he would wage a war against the Centre for its anti-farmer laws, the pink party seems to have changed tack.
It has decided to work with the Narendra Modi government in order to get more funds and projects to Telangana. The TRS MPs, after attending the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Modi in New Delhi on Saturday, said since there are no elections now, there is no need for politics.
“The Centre and the States should work in close coordination,” they said.
“We are ready to be friends with anyone in order to protect the interests of the State,” TRS Parliamentary Party (TRSPP) leader K Keshava Rao told reporters in the national capital. “We have to work with the Centre to get funds and projects to Telangana,” TRS leader in Lok Sabha Nama Nageswara Rao said.
However, the MPs made it clear that the party’s stand on the new farm laws has not changed. “We had opposed the laws when they were introduced in Parliament and there has been no change in our stand ever since. We have even suggested to the Centre to refer the laws to the Select Committee of Parliament, but it did not agree,” Keshava Rao said.
The TRSPP leader welcomed the ongoing dialogue with the farmers. “The discussions are being held with an open mind, which is a good development,” he said.He went on to clarify that the TRS MPs did not boycott the President’s address to the joint Parliament session as it would have been construed as supporting the violence of January 26. Violence, in any form, is not good, he said.
KK wants OBC Ministry; Nama seeks a Covid crisis debate
Keshava Rao advised the Centre not to ignore the farmers’ demands by showing the violent incidents as an alibi. Farmers have accorded top priority to agriculture in Telangana, he said. On the all-party meeting, the MP said the decisions taken were not implemented. He wants a discussion in the ongoing Parliament session on the pending issues of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. There should also be a debate on providing reservations to OBCs, he said, demanding the creation of a separate ministry for them. “We need a discussion on women reservations too,” the TRSPP leader said.
Meanwhile, Nama Nageswara Rao said President Ram Nath Kovind had mentioned several schemes taken up by the Telangana government in his address to the joint session of Parliament. The State is a role model for others, he said. Nama said a debate on the financial crisis after Covid-19, the roads and railway projects required for Telangana and other subjects should be taken up in Lok Sabha.
