Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: Konijeti Rosaiah had always been comfortable playing second-fiddle to any Congress Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh over the years.
He, however, finds himself ill-at-ease being the Chief Minister as was evident in the last one year that he has been in the hot seat of power.
As he himself noted a few days ago, it had indeed been a “tight rope walk” for Rosaiah as Chief Minister, given the pulls and pressures from different quarters.
From a rather strong situation, the state has plunged into a vulnerable position in just one year because of various factors, beginning with the tragic death in a helicopter crash of a powerful Chief Minister.
The ruling Congress is in total mess; the strife over the demand for bifurcation of the state has only gone into a pause mode and threatens to snowball in the months to come; the state is still facing the economic recession blues and governance has become the biggest casualty leaving the people in the lurch.
Rosaiah himself is plagued by health problems, leading to doubts over his fitness to rule.
Rosaiah ascended the Chief Minister’s throne on September 3 last year following the death of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash on September 2.
It took more than three months for him to actually settle down in the new position and take control of the situation as the state moved from “one crisis to the other.”
By the time he could gain a grip on the administration, the Chief Minister was confronted with trouble from within his party in the form of a virtual rebellion from Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who set his eyes on the Chief Minister’s chair.
Though he left the Jagan issue to be handled by the Congress high command, Rosaiah could not breathe easy as he was not given the complete authority to rule, unlike his predecessor.
Everyone initially acknowledged that Rosaiah, given his vast political experience, was an “able administrator” though not an “able leader.” But now, given the sorry state of affairs, his credentials as an administrator too are at stake, political observers point out.
Bureaucrats say there has been a lack of “cohesiveness” in the administration in the last one year.
“Administration has become CM-centric when both N Chandrababu Naidu and Y S Rajasekhara Reddy were at the helm of affairs. Being powerful leaders, their writ ran large and the entire administration functioned according to their diktats. Bureaucrats used to look to the Chief Minister for everything previously as all instructions came from him directly. It’s not the case anymore,” a top-ranking IAS officer noted, explaining the “slackness” that is currently apparent in the functioning of the government.
The Chief Minister’s attempts to tone up the administration through a bureaucratic shake-up did not bear fruit for one reason or the other. “This has also left the bureaucracy in a state of despondency, leaving a telling impact on the administration,” a high-ranking IAS officer pointed out.
Rosaiah is famous for managing the state’s finances effectively given the fact that he presented not less than 16 Budgets over the years. As Chief Minister, who continues to hold the Finance portfolio, he is finding it an uphill task to continue the development and welfare agenda left behind by his predecessor.
All the major development projects have virtually come to a standstill as the government owes lot of money to the contractors.
Uncertainty prevails even over the welfare programmes as the subsidy bill has become too much to bear for the government.
Rosaiah, however, sought to “re-assure” everyone that not a single programme initiated by Rajasekhara Reddy would be abandoned. He is also unwilling to admit that governance has been paralysed in the state. “I am doing my best and touring the state. Even my ministers are doing their job,” he pointed out.
The general perception about his administration in the state is, however, entirely different from what the Chief Minister feels.
Hyderabad: Konijeti Rosaiah had always been comfortable playing second-fiddle to any Congress Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh over the years.
He, however, finds himself ill-at-ease being the Chief Minister as was evident in the last one year that he has been in the hot seat of power.
As he himself noted a few days ago, it had indeed been a “tight rope walk” for Rosaiah as Chief Minister, given the pulls and pressures from different quarters.
From a rather strong situation, the state has plunged into a vulnerable position in just one year because of various factors, beginning with the tragic death in a helicopter crash of a powerful Chief Minister.
The ruling Congress is in total mess; the strife over the demand for bifurcation of the state has only gone into a pause mode and threatens to snowball in the months to come; the state is still facing the economic recession blues and governance has become the biggest casualty leaving the people in the lurch.
Rosaiah himself is plagued by health problems, leading to doubts over his fitness to rule.
Rosaiah ascended the Chief Minister’s throne on September 3 last year following the death of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash on September 2.
It took more than three months for him to actually settle down in the new position and take control of the situation as the state moved from “one crisis to the other.”
By the time he could gain a grip on the administration, the Chief Minister was confronted with trouble from within his party in the form of a virtual rebellion from Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who set his eyes on the Chief Minister’s chair.
Though he left the Jagan issue to be handled by the Congress high command, Rosaiah could not breathe easy as he was not given the complete authority to rule, unlike his predecessor.
Everyone initially acknowledged that Rosaiah, given his vast political experience, was an “able administrator” though not an “able leader.” But now, given the sorry state of affairs, his credentials as an administrator too are at stake, political observers point out.
Bureaucrats say there has been a lack of “cohesiveness” in the administration in the last one year.
“Administration has become CM-centric when both N Chandrababu Naidu and Y S Rajasekhara Reddy were at the helm of affairs. Being powerful leaders, their writ ran large and the entire administration functioned according to their diktats. Bureaucrats used to look to the Chief Minister for everything previously as all instructions came from him directly. It’s not the case anymore,” a top-ranking IAS officer noted, explaining the “slackness” that is currently apparent in the functioning of the government.
The Chief Minister’s attempts to tone up the administration through a bureaucratic shake-up did not bear fruit for one reason or the other. “This has also left the bureaucracy in a state of despondency, leaving a telling impact on the administration,” a high-ranking IAS officer pointed out.
Rosaiah is famous for managing the state’s finances effectively given the fact that he presented not less than 16 Budgets over the years. As Chief Minister, who continues to hold the Finance portfolio, he is finding it an uphill task to continue the development and welfare agenda left behind by his predecessor.
All the major development projects have virtually come to a standstill as the government owes lot of money to the contractors.
Uncertainty prevails even over the welfare programmes as the subsidy bill has become too much to bear for the government.
Rosaiah, however, sought to “re-assure” everyone that not a single programme initiated by Rajasekhara Reddy would be abandoned. He is also unwilling to admit that governance has been paralysed in the state. “I am doing my best and touring the state. Even my ministers are doing their job,” he pointed out.
The general perception about his administration in the state is, however, entirely different from what the Chief Minister feels.
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