KCR meets Nitish Kumar in Bihar, keeps suspense on anti-BJP front and its leader

During his Bihar visit, the Telangana chief minister also claimed that the BJP policies at the Centre were harming the farm sector.

ByRaj Rayasam

Published Aug 31, 2022 | 7:59 PMUpdatedAug 31, 2022 | 8:01 PM

KCR

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Wednesday, 31 August, said an effort was on to galvanise all anti-BJP forces to save the nation from being torn asunder along communal lines.

After a long meeting with his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar in Patna on Wednesday afternoon, KCR told reporters: “The BJP is a threat to the nation. It has to be driven out. Nitish ji (Nitish Kumar) also shares my concern. We are discussing in detail how to move forward. In this attempt, we will take on board all the forces that want an economically vibrant India where there is no fear of communal onslaught.”

Rao was slippery as an eel on questions about who would lead the anti-BJP formation that was in the works, and whether the Congress would be a part of it.

Though reporters rained questions on him, he kept his cool even as Nitish Kumar rose to leave. “Rao ji, let us go. The reporters ask only these questions and nothing else,” he said. However, KCR patiently answered all the questions without letting the cat out of the bag.

He said: “After we discuss, we will let you know who will lead the ‘main front’ that we are evolving. Discussions are going on, and we will inform you once we firm up our decision. Also, you would be the first to know at an appropriate time if the Congress is in or not. We will take along all those who share our wavelength and leave all behind those who do not. We will surely let you know because a wedding cannot take place without the priest.”

KCR, Nitish Kumar, and Tejashwi Yadav

(From left) Tejashwi Yadav, KCR, and Nitish Kumar, in Patna, Bihar, on Wednesday, 31 August, 2022. (Supplied)

He said the youth should know the kind of awakening that the people had when the country was put under Emergency in the 1970s and they need that kind of spirit now to resist and repel the BJP, which is a clear and present danger to the nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not want any other party to remain in the country, said KCR, adding that Modi wants only the BJP to remain and rule the nation forever, which is a disconcerting trend.

Rao also said the saffron party was pushing the nation to the brink of economic ruin. “The prime minister wants to adopt the Gujarat model. But it is a flop model. In Gujarat, nothing works properly. The Telangana industrialists who have settled in Gujarat tell me they have a problem when it comes to power and water supply. The BJP leaders stake a claim to the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi by saying that prohibition is in force, but illicit liquor is flowing freely,” he said.

He also took the Centre to task for destroying the statutory inquiry agencies for political purposes. “The BJP is using all these agencies to wreak vengeance on the parties that are questioning its policies as they are the paragons of virtue,” he said.

Nitish Kumar greets KCR

KCR (right) is greeted by Nitish Kumar in Patna, Bihar, on Wednesday, 31 August, 2022. (Supplied)

“This is a method that the BJP has been using lately to bring the Opposition down on its knees. This is a disturbing sign,” added KCR.

“The Centre’s power policy is very lopsided and does not help agriculture. There is a sinister move to end traditional farming and transfer the land to corporates. The BJP leaders are doing this insidiously,” said the Telangana chief minister, who is also the chief of the TRS.

“The Centre is also insisting that we buy coal from outside at an outrageous price, when it is available dead cheap with the SSCL. The idea is to make power unaffordable and thus emasculate the farm sector so that it could be offered to the private sector on a platter for corporate farming,” he said.

KCR also said that the BJP was trying to drive a wedge between communities in the name of religion, not realising the incalculable damage it was causing to the secular fabric of the nation.

“It is easy to break something but very difficult to rebuild it. The youth and the intelligentsia should ponder over the lurking harm to the nation,” Rao said.

Earlier in the day, both Rao and Nitish Kumar distributed cheques for ₹10 lakh to the kin of the five Bihar soldiers who died due to Chinese aggression in the Galwan Valley, and ₹5 lakh each to the families of 12 migrant labourers from Bihar who died in a blaze in a scrap godown in Secunderabad.