Change, by its very definition, is constant. And this constant is more evident in the government, especially its approach to doing things. It seems that the state government has changed its choice of mementos presented to state guests or other dignitaries whom the chief minister and ministers meet.
Once, the preferred choice of a memento would be a replica of the Charminar or a veena. These have been replaced by an enframed painting of ‘Telangana Thalli’ by artisans from Nirmal. Recently, when Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Union Minister S Jaishankar, as well as a DMK delegation in Delhi, the memento of choice on both occasions was the ‘Telangana Thalli’ photo frame.
Jump ship to stay afloat
A Congress loyalist dreams of an MLC seat under the MLAs quota. After his hopes are dashed again, he vents to a senior minister, someone believed to be close to the party high command. The minister drops a zinger: “Switched parties ever?” The loyalist, confused, shakes his head. The minister, with a grin, replies: “Switching parties once gets you on the preliminary list of aspirants. Twice, you get shortlisted. Thrice, you might actually get the ticket.” Moral of the story? Loyalty makes you a permanent benchwarmer.
A complaint, and a bemusing proposal
The gaps between some Congress MLAs and the ministers in charge of the districts their constituencies come under have widened to such an extent that the former have even lodged complaints with Meenakshi Natarajan, the AICC representative for Telangana, that the latter were not properly monitoring the development works in the district. The complaints were accompanied with a straightforward demand — replace the district in-charge ministers. However, what left the power corridors bemused was the proposed replacement. The MLAs proposed their own names as district in-charges. Beyond the bemusement, the powers-that-be in the party are now scratching their heads, trying to figure out how to pacify the MLAs.
Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea
When it comes to in-charges, strange things are happening in the Congress regime in Telangana. For instance, an in-charge minister appointed an officer on deputation basis to follow up n the issues plaguing a prominent corporation and communicate his instructions to the corporation officers. However, the mayor would have none of it and is believed to have ordered the municipal commissioner not to follow the instructions of the officer without the knowledge of the mayor’s office. With the mayor making a display of not giving importance to the minister’s orders through the appointed officer, the staff of the civic body are now caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.