The Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao who is determined to retain power with a ‘positive vote’ from the people of Telangana in the 2023 polls, now in confused, restless and most unstable stage. Reason- growing menace of anti-incumbency in the ruling party.
People do consider him a fighter and, more importantly, as a man who had secured statehood for Telangana. In general, people feel that KCR got Telangana State from the then Union government despite the hardships it was facing in view of the attitudes of principal political parties.
The Telangana Rastra Samithi has a record six million party workers. No other party had this kind of membership in the history of the combined state of Andhra Pradesh.
Even the Communist Party of India (Marxist-led Left Front that ruled West Bengal for three and half decades had organisational strength of just three lakh full-timers. The BJP, which is heading the ruling dispensation at the Centre, has six million members.
KCR is targeting the BJP at the national level because of its disdainful attitude towards TRS’ rule in the state. By virtue of its strength at the national level and the clout of its government at the Centre, the BJP too is focusing on TRS and its leadership on every key issue.
The two national level parties, Congress and BJP, are individually concentrating on TRS’ rule, keeping the latter on tenterhooks.Purchase of lakhs of tonnes of paddy during the agricultural season has become the bone of contention between the BJP and the TRS.
The TRS says that the Centre’s refusal to purchase paddy was against the interests of farmers and injustice was done to TS’ farmers. The BJP has been making the same allegation against the TRS for “not taking steps to purchase the paddy”.
The BJP’s agitational programmes and TRS Ministers’ tour to Delhi for the purpose of meeting Union Ministers in this regard reflected the studied efforts of both sides that were out to ‘expose’ each other.
But farmers in Telangana State have been the ultimate losers in this regard as no concrete effort is being made even now to effectively resolve the problem. For the next agricultural season, farmers of TS need to go ahead with their own plans on paddy plantations. We are witnessing a rare situation in which the Union & state governments are engaged in a wordy duel only for the purpose of getting political mileage, though it is clearly at the cost of farmers.
Several issues are haunting KCR, including the issuance of G.O No.317 that has literally pushed government employees, particularly teachers in huge numbers, into great trouble, with employees facing nativity issues regardless of where they go for work.
During the reorganisation of districts taken up immediately upon formation of the new state of Telangana, the state government’s employees were allotted to new districts and told that they had to stay put there until retirement, causing heartburn to many of them.
The ‘Dalit Bandhu ‘ programme, involving financial assistance for the uplift of Dalits, appears to be becoming a white elephant for the government. It needs Rs.1.70 lakh crores of rupees for implementation the scheme across the state.
This programme was introduced in the Huzurabad Assembly seat, where a bye-election was held recently. The Government hurriedly introduced this programme eyeing the presence of a huge number of Dalits in the constituency.
However, former minister in KCR’s cabinet Etala Rajender won the battle in the bypolls, giving a shock to the TRS leadership. Now the TRS government is compelled by circumstances to implement the Dalit Bandhu scheme throughout the state at any cost. It is now a moon shot with there being no guarantee that this card would serve the purpose of the ruling party at the hustings.
Amid these issues behind the anti-incumbency tide, the TRS is going to face the elections next year with the sole purpose of making the third successive win. In general, it is not so easy for any party to register its third successive victory, given probable shifts in people’s preferences linked to the overall performance of the government.
Just as people would be wary of letting a novice to rule them, a ruling party that is eyeing third consecutive win in elections will have to stem the tide of anti-incumbency circumspectly. Only time will tell whether KCR would find place beside his counterparts in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, Nitish Kumar and Shivraj Singh Chowhan respectively, who had the last laugh in their third consecutive elections! #KhabarLive #hydnews
