In a major decision, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday recommended in favour of dissolving the state assembly, paving way for early elections.
Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan dissolved the state Assembly on a recommendation by the state cabinet after Rao met him and presented the resolution of the Council of Ministers.
The Governor while accepting the recommendation requested Rao and his Council of Ministers to continue in office as caretaker government. Rao has agreed, reported IANS quoting the statement.
Many pundits had speculated that Rao was keen to dissolve the state assembly to advance the election to coincide with the November-December polls in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram. The state was scheduled to go for polls with the Lok Sabha elections had Rao decided to complete his full five year in office.
One of the reasons, say experts, behind advancing the dates for the assembly elections is to avoid direct fight with two heavyweights of the Indian politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
A report by Hindustan Times quoted senior Congress leader M Shashidhar Reddy as saying that if Rao dissolved the assembly, his party would request the Election Commission to delay the Telangana polls until a revised voters’ list is published in January next year.
“We will request the EC not to club the Telangana polls with the elections to four states in December and delay them so that time is available for us to ensure voters’ lists are not doctored,” he was quoted as saying.
