Tejashwi Yadav calls on KCR; discusses anti-BJP front

HYDERABAD: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday met Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao at Pragathi Bhavan.

Tejashwi was accompanied by former Bihar minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui, former MLC Sunil Singh and former MLA Bhola Yadav among others. Tejashwi's sudden arrival at Pragathi Bhavan sparked political speculations about the purpose of the meeting with the Chief Minister.

TRS sources said both the leaders discussed the present national political situation and the need to forge an anti-BJP front to defeat the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. TRS working president and IT minister K.T. Rama Rao and Rajya Sabha member Joginipally Santhosh Kumar were also present in the discussions. Chandrashekar Rao also called Tejaswi's father and Bihar former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav over phone in the presence of the visiting delegation and spoke to him for about 10 minutes.

The meeting assumes significance against the backdrop of Chandrashekar Rao inviting top national leaders of the CPI and the CPM to Pragathi Bhavan on January 8 including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan where the discussion was centred around bringing all anti-BJP forces together to defeat NDA in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and achieve "BJP-mukt Bharat". They also discussed upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls and opined that the BJP is bound to lose UP polls as a Cabinet minister has left BJP and a few more MLAs are going to leave soon giving indications of downfall of the BJP in UP. Discussion on NCP leader Sharad Pawar's statement extending support to Samajwadi Party in UP polls also figured in their talks.

Tejashwi has been waging a political battle against the NDA and the BJP in Bihar. His party RJD gave a tough fight to the BJP-JD(U) alliance in Bihar Assembly elections held in November 2020.

Sources said a consensus was reached in the discussions about the need for all democratic and secular forces to join hands to defeat the BJP at the national level. They also agreed on intensifying agitation against the anti-BC, SC, ST, Minority policies of the NDA government.

They agreed to devise a common future course of action against BJP at the earliest.

During his phone conversation with Lalu, Chandrashekar Rao reportedly explained him about the discrimination being meted out to Telangana by the NDA government on the issue of paddy procurement, sanctioning of Central funds and pending state bifurcation issues.

Lalu reportedly appreciated the efforts of Chandrashekar Rao in bringing all anti-BJP forces together. He is learnt to have asked Chandrashekar Rao to come forward to fight against the BJP and continue his efforts until the BJP government at the Centre is ousted from power. He urged Chandrashekar Rao to work with like-minded parties to save the democratic and secular fabric of India.

The RJD delegation reportedly expressed their complete support to Chandrashekar Rao in his efforts to bring down the NDA government in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Speculation is rife in the TRS circles that Tejashwi arrived by a special flight to Hyderabad on the invitation of Chandrashekar Rao to have discussion on forging anti-BJP front at the national level.