Bathukamma is a unique nine-day festival in the Telangana region, during which women join hands and dance to celebrate their patron goddess Gauri and promote unity among women barring caste and creed.
This year’s Bathukamma is however, caught up in a war between Telangana’s two goddesses, K Kavita, daughter of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) founder K Chandrasekhar Rao, and his niece Regulapati Ramya, daughter of Rao’s late elder brother Ranga Rao. Kavita is the president of Telangana Jagruthi. Ramya walked out of the TRS along with her husband Regulapati Madhusudana Rao, a TRS founder member over family differences. It seems the battle for succession in the Telengana movement has begun even before a separate state has been achieved. And adding spice to the family intrigue is Union Civil Aviation Minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Ajit Singh.
Ramya is taking her political plunge during Bathukumma by inaugurating the ‘Batukamma Pandaga’ in the presence of Ruchi Jayanth Singh, Ajit Singh’s daughter-in-law. Ramya is a little known law graduate, but her decision to join Telangana Rashtriya Lok Dal (TRLD) as president of the women’s wing is bound to get Chandrasekhar Rao’s hackles up. Taking a dig at the Telangana Jagruthi president Kavita Ramya questions, “What are the contributions of Kavita to the cause so far?”
Ajit Singh, who is spearheading the separate Harit Pradesh movement in Uttar Pradesh, has also been backing the Telangana cause for several years. Ramya seized the opportunity provided by the Telangana unit of RLD, the TRLD, which was launched in Andhra Pradesh recently. She said that the TRLD would become a real party of the Telangana people soon. “RLD chief Ajith Singh have more MPs than TRS. RLD is the right party to fight for Telangana and resist and repel Samayikyandra leaders who are opposing Telangana cause,” she said.
-Sunday Standard