KCR Keeps Date With 'Lucky 6', Dissolves Telangana Assembly and Calls For Early Polls

New Delhi: Ending days of speculation, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has recommended dissolution of the state Assembly, paving the way for snap polls in the state.

The state cabinet met in Hyderabad Thursday afternoon to clear the proposal for early polls. The term of the Telangana Assembly ends in May next year.

Earlier there were reports that KCR, a firm believer in astrology, will hold the cabinet meeting at 6:45 in the morning to coincide with Aja Ekadashi Mahurat, which ends at 9:31 in the morning. According to astrologers, 6 is KCR’s lucky number.

KCR met Governor ESL Narasimhan after the Cabinet meeting and informed him about the decision to dissolve the Assembly.

At a massive rally this Sunday in the state capital, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti Chief had presented a report card of his government’s performance in the last four and a half years. He had also dropped hints that the party may decide to de-link Assembly polls with the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

The Congress has said it will approach the courts and Election Commission against holding of the elections till the time revised list of voters is published.

"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," senior Congress leader M Shashidhar Reddy had earlier told the media.

If their requests are not met, the party he added will take the "legal route" and move the court.

The TRS would like the state Assembly polls to be held together with Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh slated for December this year.

The TRS worry also is that should elections to Telangana Assembly be held alongside Lok Sabha polls as they have been held in united Andhra Pradesh since 1999, the Congress projection of Rahul Gandhi as the PM face could affect it adversely.

Since the BJP is not a potent force in Telangana, KCR does not want to risk people voting for the Congress.

If elections are held along with the three north Indian states, Telangana for geographical reasons will be seen as an indicator of the mood in the peninsula where the BJP is attempting to expand its political footprint.

At the Sunday rally, Rao had however attempted to dispel rumours of a pre-poll tie up with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls invoking “Telangana pride” against the “slavery of Delhi parties”.