Former Telangana Joint Action Committee chairman Prof M Kodandaram, who recently floated a new regional party Telangana Jana Samithi, seems to be very confident of facing the elections on his own.
Though there has been tremendous pressure from his own party leaders that the TJS should have a tie-up with the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kodandaram is said to have rejected all their suggestions.
“Let us establish ourselves an independent political party with a serious political agenda. We are not like conventional political parties which do not have the background of a people’s movement. We shall have our own identity and let us not play second fiddle to any other party,” he reportedly told the party cadre.
Sources close to Kodanda said though the TRS came to power in 2014 as an “Udyama Party” (party born out of a movement for separate state), it has lost the touch with the people associated with the movement the moment he disowned the TJAC.
“While common people, students, farmers and employees who worked in the TJAC continue to be our strength, even those in the TRS having the background of the people’s movement are likely to return our fold. That would be our plus point,” he reportedly told them.
However, another section of the TJS feels that Kodanda is over-confident and he cannot match the political manipulations of TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
“If the TJS fights the elections alone and contests all the seats, it will only benefit the TRS ultimately,” this section is arguing.
