HYDERABAD: Raising his voice against the political leadership of the state, TSRTC JAC convenor E Aswathama Reddy advised Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao not to push the TSRTC strike issue too far, and to keep in mind how late NTR was dethroned in 1995 even though he had a brute majority in the Assembly.
“I want to jog your memory. Even a popular leader like NTR was dislodged. Are you more popular than him?” Reddy asked, implying that a political crisis might emerge in the TRS if Rao remains adamant on not conceding the demands of the striking employees. “Who knows, it may develop into a constitutional crisis,” he added.
Describing Rao as a “dictator,” the TSRTC JAC leader asked him to bear in mind that positions of political power were always transient. “You are CM today. You may not be one tomorrow,” he said.
Reddy added that several ministers and ruling party MLAs were unhappy over the way the government was handling the strike. “Just last night, two MLAs called me and said they were sorry for the plight of the TSRTC staff,” he said, and came down heavily on the ministers who were provoking the employees.
“These ministers, who were never associated with the Telangana movement, were heckling us,” he said, describing them as Bangaru Telangana batch of leaders (a derisive word for those who joined the TRS after the formation of Telangana state with a chorus that they wanted to strengthen Rao’s hands in building Bangaru Telangana).