ANDHRA PRADESH: Awaiting the Congress' call

Desaraju Surya

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh is desperately waiting for Congress’ call – on the vexatious state bifurcation issue.

For years, the Congress has dodged the issue fearing a political backlash but its indecisiveness on either creating a Telangana state or keeping Andhra Pradesh united has only been aggravating the unrest among people of the two regions.

To say that the entire state has been pushed into turmoil – on all fronts – particularly since December 2009 on account of the Congress’ dithering stand will only be an understatement.

The distress caused to ordinary people, the beating that the state’s image had taken notably on the investment front, the internal rift that the main political parties of the state were left with and the enormous loss caused to the state exchequer on account of the strife are now part of history.

But, history threatens to repeat if the Congress drags its feet.

The Congress-led UPA government at the Centre has bought time, from the aggressive statehood proponents, till completion of elections to five state assemblies even as close to five months elapsed since the five-member Justice Srikrishna Committee submitted its recommendations on the contentious subject.

Now that elections are over, the separatists are ready to up the ante once again and go all out in their quest for the state of Telangana that so far remained elusive for them.

Not only the separatists but also the integrationists are seeking an immediate solution to the crisis.

“From June 1, we will put Telangana on the boil and even take our struggle to the international level,” declared the separatist leader K Chandrasekhar Rao, whose Telangana Rashtra Samiti has been in the forefront of the statehood struggle.

“It is time for the Government of India to take a clear decision in favour of Telangana. Else, we will go to any extent to realize our aspirations,” regional leaders of the ruling Congress warned.

Having suffered a severe setback in which was once its stronghold, Telugu Desam Party too is gearing up for an open fight this time and has announced its first step of agitation programme in the form of a three-day paada yatra (foot march) beginning May 23.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is keen on re-establishing its base in the region by taking a lead in the statehood struggle, is also organizing a massive rally in Karimnagar on May 31 to galvanize public support for the cause.

Government employees, on the other hand, have threatened to stop work once again if the Central government continued to dilly-dally on Telangana.

There are other groups in the region, particularly the student community, that have been taking an active part in the statehood agitations along with the political parties, often resorting to violence.

Worried are the common people whose lives will be largely affected if the separatists once again unleash strife to meet their objective.

On the other side, the Andhra-Rayalaseema regions remained relatively peaceful despite the state bifurcation demand reaching a feverish pitch in Telangana. Though for a brief period in early 2010 protests erupted in Andhra-Rayalaseema regions with the demand that the state not be split, peace prevailed after the Justice Srikrishna Committee was constituted.

The state fears, as it was mentioned in the Committee’s report as well, that trouble may erupt in any particular region if the Centre’s decision went against it.

“That is inevitable. But the Centre cannot hold its decision on this pretext. It should take an immediate decision either way and settle the issue once and for all,” a group of ministers firmly told Union Minister and AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad when he interacted with them here yesterday. It was a unanimous appeal made by ministers from Telangana as well as Andhra-Rayalaseema regions.

The MPs, MLAs and MLCs from the respective regions, however, spoke for and against the bifurcation – the stands they had taken for long.

Ironically, even when things have come to such a pass, Azad sought to weigh the political fallout for the Congress if the Telangana statehood demand is conceded or not. “Can you people assure Congress’ victory in the next elections if Telangana is granted,” he reportedly questioned party leaders from the region at his meeting.

Only one so-called ‘veteran’ leader rose to say: “I will.”

Interestingly, Azad reportedly did not seek any such assurance from Andhra-Rayalaseema leaders.

Whatever be the implications for the Congress, people of Andhra Pradesh are only looking for a solution that will ensure lasting peace and progress.

Much bravado about nothing

Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: Having realised that his resounding victory in the Kadapa Lok Sabha by-election is absolutely not good enough to cause any threat to the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh anytime in the near future, a jittery YSR Congress Party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is forced to re-work his strategies.
Now, Jagan's focus will be to "consolidate" his base not just in his native Kadapa but in other parts of the state as well.
Sources close to him say the upcoming elections to urban local bodies and panchayat raj institutions could serve as the real testing ground for Jagan's strength and establish his mass base.
All his tall talk and bravado notwithstanding, Jagan realised that he doesn’t command the strength to cause any threat to the government either immediately or in the near future.
As things stand, Jagan has the open backing of only about 15 MLAs in the 294-member AP Assembly, a number too short to make any dent to the government.
Buoyed by his victory in the Kadapa Lok Sabha by-election by a record margin of over 5.45 lakh votes, Jagan initially announced that the Kiran Kumar Reddy government would “fall” within six months.
Subsequently, he changed his tone and said dislodging the government might not be possible as the principal opposition Telugu Desam Party became “an alliance partner” of the ruling Congress.
One who always spoke of over-throwing the government “at the opportune time”, Jagan now changed tack and rather dared the Congress to go for snap polls and seek a fresh mandate.
"Let him first come out with the exact number of MLAs supporting him and then talk of snap polls or anything else," state Transport Minister Botsa Satyanarayana remarked, rebuking Jagan.
Given its own predicaments, the TDP too is not ready to take the Jagan bait and move a no-confidence motion against the Congress government.
"We have an ideology and a strategy of our own. We will not act according to someone else's wishes," TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu asserted.
"If Jagan is so confident about his strength, why doesn't he make the MLAs supporting him to resign and seek a mandate. That will make things clear," TDP politburo member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said.
Though about 15 MLAs, including two TDP rebels and one PRP rebel, are apparently behind him, some of the Congress legislators are making moves to stay back in their parent party rather than sail with Jagan fearing disqualification.
For the time being, the Congress initiated disqualification proceedings against only four MLAs of whom two have reportedly affirmed that they would indeed stay in the ruling party only.
Even among those sailing with Jagan, not all MLAs are said to be happy given his "undemocratic" style of functioning. A Congress and a PRP MLA already walked out of the Jagan camp protesting his "dictatorial" attitude.
"As MLAs loyal to him we couldn't manage an appointment with Jagan and had to wait for two or three days for an audience. That style of functioning will only be detrimental for Jagan," an MLA who walked out of the camp said.
Besides, Jagan's ploy of encouraging the "emerging leaders" even in constituencies where his loyalists are sitting MLAs is also not going down well with the latter.
These are some reasons why the so-called fence-sitters are showing no urgency to jump onto the Jagan bandwagon despite his massive win in the by-poll.
In such a scenario, Jagan cannot go ahead immediately with his plan to dislodge the Kiran Kumar Reddy government, sources close to him aver.
The MP-elect may make his further moves only if the YSR Congress Party succeeds in elections to the local bodies whenever they are held.
Till then, Kiran Kumar and Co. can breathe easy.