HYDERABAD: Telangana Rasthra Samithi (TRS), led by CM Kishore Chandrasekhar Rao, went into election mode on Sunday with a “mega rally” on the outskirts of Hyderabad. His message was clear: he has the approval of his cabinet colleagues and party MLAs to decide on early polls, and will decide on it at a future date — a euphemisim that he will go for early elections. KCR introduced the subject to his audience by saying that the media has been speculating about it, but did not rule out such a possibility.KCR’s intentions are clear. He does want an early election, and all indications are that he will dissolve the assembly before September 10. A likely date could be September 6, a number he considers lucky. He is understood to have been pressing for a late-November, early-December poll date, insiders said.His reasons, too, are clear. Giving Congress time until April-May to fight an election along with the parliamentary polls may benefit Rahul Gandhi’s party, specially with signs of an anti-Modi sentiment in Andhra Pradesh and the possibility of Congress strengthening itself in Telangana. The two Telugu-speaking regions had always been Congress bastions until Telangana was carved out in 2014.KCR will prefer that state polls don’t get lumped with Lok Sabha polls so that the focus on him as the maker of Telangana does not get blurred and Congress is denied the advantage it hopes to reap by projecting itself as BJP’s chief adversary.KCR has met PM Modi thrice in two months, moving closer to NDA. Between meeting Modi on August 4 and 25, KCR started announcing sops for one segment after the other. These included 100% finance subsidy for BCs and MBCs, free power for SCs/STs, fighting to increase quotas for Muslims to 12% from 4%, and increasing the dole for unemployed youth. Sunday’s Cabinet meeting announced “self-respect buildings” for BCs.During his meetings with the PM, KCR sought Modi’s support to advance the Telangana polls, reasoning that it would be easier for him to fight the LS battle against Congress. KCR also asked for the Telangana polls to be held alongside Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram. The Centre reportedly assured him that there would be no trouble sparing paramilitary forces for polls during November-December 2018.Besides, BJP might need KCR after the LS elections and, for that reason, is unlikely to put any hurdle in the way of his continuing as CM.At Sunday’s rally, KCR also announced TRS would soon issue a new manifesto. However, he was disappointed at the turnout, with even optimistic estimates not coming close to the 25 lakh his confidants had assured him they would muster.