In a huge tactical gambit, the Telangana government Thursday recommended dissolution of the state assembly months before its term was to end, driven by the hope its chief K C Rao's charisma will give it a second spell in power, and the urge to avoid a "KCR vs Modi" campaign simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls would entail.
Ending weeks of intense speculation, chief minister Rao chaired a meeting of the state cabinet, which adopted the resolution urging Governor E S L Narasimhan to dissolve the House.
The governor accepted the recommendation soon afterwards and asked Rao, who headed the state's first government, to continue as caretaker chief minister.
"The Governor, while accepting the recommendation of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers has requested K Chandrashekar Rao and his Council of Ministers to continue in office as a caretaker government. Chandrasekhar Rao has agreed to this request," a Raj Bhavan press communique said.
The Congress and some other opposition parties cried foul over the development, calling it the result of a "dubious pact" between K Chandrashekar Rao and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speculation was rife over the last few weeks about the likelihood of Rao going for an early election as he did not want national issues raised during the next year's Lok Sabha polls to overshadow local factors, which the TRS feels, are in its favour.
In normal circumstances, the assembly election in the state would have coincided with the Lok Sabha poll likely April-May next year.
Narasimhan is expected to send a report to the Centre on the developments and formally communicate the Telangana government's decision to the Election Commission.
The final call on whether to conduct an early election rests with the Election Commission, which has six months till March to hold the polls.
A home ministry official said in New Delhi it is up to the poll panel to decide whether it wants elections in Telangana to take place with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram in November-December.
"Today, it's KCR versus nobody. Six months later, it would have become a KCR versus (Narendra) Modi campaign," TRS veteran K Kesava Rao, a party MP told a TV news channel, indicating that the decision to go for a snap poll was also aimed at delinking the assembly and Lok Sabha elections to avoid a personalised campaign, with the local issues taking a back seat.
With the opposition hardly presenting the picture of a cohesive bloc, the TRS currently sits pretty in the state in whose creation Rao played a pivotal role.
Sources in the ruling party said Rao wanted to cash in on what he believes was a "positive atmosphere" in favour of his government.
Rao, they said, felt popular programmes launched by his government including the Bhagirathi Drinking Water Scheme, Kalyana Lakshmi/Shaadi Mubarak schemes for one-time assistance to economically weak families of girls of marriageable age, and Rythu Bandhu investment support scheme for farmers will help it reap a rich electoral harvest.
The TRS boss also did not want to give enough elbow room to the Congress, a formidable force in undivided Andhra Pradesh, and the neighbouring state's ruling TDP to come together and put up a united fight against his party. The two parties had voted together during the recent no-trust vote against the Modi government and the vice presidential poll.
Delaying the polls till Apri-May would have given the two parties more leeway to form an alliance the possibility of which still exists. However, the two parties will have to hasten the pace and remove the possibile irritants in the way.
The TRS, despite being seen as having "friendly" ties with the Centre's ruling BJP, has a committed following among the Muslim voters.
Simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls could have denied the TRS the benefit of its Muslim support base if the opposition could convince the minority voters about the genuineness of its claim of his proximity to the BJP.
The Congress reacted sharply to the development, saying Rao's decision reflected a "dubious pact" with prime minister Modi.
"If simultaneous elections were to be held for Lok Sabha and the state assembly, it would have turned into a Rahul Gandhi versus Modi fight in states like Telangana and benefited the Congress," chief spokesperson of the Telangana unit of the Congress Sravan Dasoju told PTI.
The BJP, with just five MLAs in Telangana and little at stake in the assembly polls, will be all to happy to see the TRS back at the helm. Keeping TRS in good humour may stand the saffron party in good stead when it hunts for allies if it falls short of a majority in the Lok Sabha polls.
Rao today completely avoided criticising the BJP and launched a blistering attack on the Congress, calling the party Telangana's "enemy number 1" and its president Rahul Gandhi the "biggest buffoon" in the country.
"Everybody knows Rahul Gandhi. He is the biggest buffoon in the country. Whole country has seen in the open assembly (Lok Sabha) how he went to Mr Narendra Modi and hugged him....the way he was winking," Rao told a press conference after the cabinet decision.
He said his ties with Modi were "purely government to government, constitutional and not personal".
"The number one villain and biggest enemy of Telangana is Congress. It was Jawaharlal Nehru who merged the then Telangana region with other Telugu-speaking regions against the wishs of Telangana and it was Indira Gandhi who crushed the separate statehood agitation during her regime," he said.
He said there was "political fragility and unlimited idiocy" in Telangana due to the opposition's false propaganda against his government.
"To end his I decided to go to the people's court. Let people take a call," he said.
Rao said he "personally" spoke to the Chief Election Commissioner and claimed Telangana polls will be held with those in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram.
"As per my knowledge, the notification will be issued in October, elections will be held in November and results will be declared in the first week of December," he said.
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