Nara Lokesh, the minister for IT and Panchayatraj and also son of chief minister, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, feels forming of next government at the Centre without the support of either BJP or Congress, looks impossible.
He said he would not agree with such a claim made by the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao.
Lokesh feels, such a possibility doesn’t exist due to lack of coordination among the regional parties across the country. “Understandably, the regional parties do have their own constraints and may not join others. In such a situation, some of those who are willing to agree upon some common minimum program (CMP) may join hands, if needed, take either of these two national parties, BJP or Congress, help to form next government. He said this in an interview to a news agency.
However, he said every regional party should strive hard to win maximum number seats from their respective states to keep both these national parties at bay, in numbers game. Only if their number is substantive and may stake claim as a single largest to form next governmentm with support of either of these two parties.
According to him, the need of the hour is to look for a Prime Minister at the Centre, who is acceptable to all and willing to care for states. He or she should also be willing to respect the federal structure of governance in our democracy. On this count, he expressed his displeasure towards the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who according to him, turned into a dictator, disrespecting the federal structure and not honoring promises made to states. He remided how went back on honoring the promise to accord Special Status Category to state, which was promised at the time of state bifurcation.
Taking pot-shots at his father’s bête noir KCR, he wondered how can he dream to become a ‘king maker’ at the Centre after polls with mere 16 seats? He said, the SP-BSP in UP or Mamata in West Bengal bound emerge as big parties and bound to play to major role than any other regional party, in installing a non-BJP government at the Centre.
He said that’s why his party chief had taken the initiative to bring all like-minded regional parties together to ensure the defeat of Modi-led BJP in the ensuing polls, under Congress party.