It is now plain and clear as crystal that KCR has literally no influence at the national level. Despite his spate of meetings with several chief ministers of non-BJP parties, no one seems to be with him. The leaders he met recently such as Tamil Nadu CM Stalin, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP's Sharad Pawar and Left Parties have attended the meeting called by Mamta Banerjee on the issue of putting up a united candidate for the presidential election.
Only Akali Dal, AAP and the TRS have not attended the meeting. Of these three, Akalis have very few votes. So, he has four options. The first is - to tamely join Mamta's brigade as a simple soldier and accept her leadership. The second option is to back the BJP candidate after all the criticism of the BJP. He will remain a mere tail of the NDA in the process.
The third option is to abstain from the voting. But, this will not set a good precedent for the party and will seriously damage the standing of the party at the national level. If it abstains, it would only be seen as helping the ruling BJP, which it is opposing tooth and nail.
The fourth option is to form a third alliance with Akalis, AAP and other small parties and put up a third candidate for the presidential election. But, by doing this, it will only split the non-BJP votes and indirectly help the BJP.
So the big doubt among the political circles is as to whether KCR is actually working as a BJP agent to split the non-BJP votes? If he backs the BJP at the end, it will be a huge loss of face for KCR himself and will seriously harm his national political ambitions. Thus, KCR is caught in a cleft-stick like situation.
Only Akali Dal, AAP and the TRS have not attended the meeting. Of these three, Akalis have very few votes. So, he has four options. The first is - to tamely join Mamta's brigade as a simple soldier and accept her leadership. The second option is to back the BJP candidate after all the criticism of the BJP. He will remain a mere tail of the NDA in the process.
The third option is to abstain from the voting. But, this will not set a good precedent for the party and will seriously damage the standing of the party at the national level. If it abstains, it would only be seen as helping the ruling BJP, which it is opposing tooth and nail.
The fourth option is to form a third alliance with Akalis, AAP and other small parties and put up a third candidate for the presidential election. But, by doing this, it will only split the non-BJP votes and indirectly help the BJP.
So the big doubt among the political circles is as to whether KCR is actually working as a BJP agent to split the non-BJP votes? If he backs the BJP at the end, it will be a huge loss of face for KCR himself and will seriously harm his national political ambitions. Thus, KCR is caught in a cleft-stick like situation.