By Our Special Correspondent
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will attend the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) public meeting in Haryana on September 25, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders said. The "Samman Divas" rally is being organized to mark the birth anniversary of former Deputy Prime Minister and party founder Devi lal.
The rally, which will be attended by a galaxy of opposition leaders including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav, is seen as a coming together of opposition parties against the BJP ahead of the 2024 general elections. INLD claims that the rally will be a historic 'Summon Divas' and will usher in change with the participation of lakhs of people.
Along with KCR, many regional leaders like NCP chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav will attend this rally.
TDP President Chandrababu Naidu and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were among the invitees. INLD leaders are saying that Shiromani Akali Dal leader Prakash Singh Badal and many others are likely to attend this rally.
According to reliable sources, this rally will be an opportunity for KCR, who has been meeting many regional leaders in recent times, to renew his relationship. While he met Nitish Kumar in Bihar after pulling out of alliance with BJP, KCR also held talks with JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy in Hyderabad last week.
While INLD chief and former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son Abhay Chautala are inviting leaders from various communities, the Congress is conspicuously absent from the invitees. Nitish Kumar is keen to take the grand old party on board, even as some opposition parties including the TRS, JDS and TMC favor an opposition alliance minus the Congress.
TRS leaders say that although Nitish has played a key role in bringing the rival parties together, KCR is ready to work with him at the national level. The TRS chief said that although the last meeting between Nitish and KCR did not end positively, KCR was ready to work with him.
Last week, Kumar met several opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Arvind Kejriwal and CPI (M) Sitaram Yechury. In the 2019 elections, INLD was defeated as only Abhay won the election from Ellenabad. He later resigned his seat in solidarity with the farmers' year-long agitation against three controversial central farm laws that have now been scrapped.
Chautala, the 87-year-old Jat leader and five-time chief minister, who was released from jail last year after completing his ten-year jail term, is looking to help the INLD regain its foothold in Haryana politics through the Samman Diwas rally.
Comments