Hyderabad: Secretary-general of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, Dr K. Kesava Rao, says the promise of appointing a Dalit as the first Chief Minister of Telangana is still open.
“The new state of Telangana needs a strong Chief Minister to resolve several contentious issues and ensure rapid reconstruction. It could be a Dalit, KCR (party president K. Chandrasekhara Rao) or any other efficient leader if the party comes to power. KCR is still thinking about it,” Dr Rao said.
The TRS has been saying of late that party president will be the first Chief Minister of the new state, thus going back on its earlier promise.
“Telugu Desam promises to make a BC as CM in Telangana knowing pretty well the party will not win. Why does it not promise to make a BC the Chief Minister in Seemandhra?, he said.
When asked which alliance the TRS would back in case of a fractured verdict at the Centre, Dr Rao said the TRS will keep in mind the “public interest” in such a situation.
“We don’t know which party will come to power at the Centre. But there should be a good Centre-State relationship. We would certainly like to have friendly ties with any government at the Centre that benefits people at large,” he added.
Dr Rao was speaking at a Meet the Press organised by Telangana English Journalists’ Association (Teja) here on Tuesday. He said the party’s priority was welfare, education, medicare, irrigation, drinking water, law and order etc.
“The Congress will always favour the state which has more MLAs and MPs like Seemandhra. Seemandhra has 175 MLAs and 25 MPs, whereas Telangana has 119 MLAs and 17 MPs. This is precisely the reason the TRS did not have any truck with the Congress since it will always back the state with more MPs,” he said.
