Baldiya – khaya, piya, chaldiya
‘’Baldiya – khaya, piya, chaldiya’’ (GHMC ate, drank and left) aptly describes the feelings of Hyderabadis about the civic body. The Corporation lived up to its dubious image during the fifth special (budget) meeting held on Saturday. The meeting, which was meant to discuss ways to solve the people’s issues, turned out to be a damp squib and the taxpayers’ money spent on the event went down the drain.
The meeting only saw BRS and BJP corporators settling their scores. The civic body spent a few lakh rupees for providing a sumptuous lunch consisting of a grand spread of non-vegetarian items, mineral water, tea and snacks for corporators, ‘shadow’ corporators (husbands of corporators), Mayor’s associates from the ruling party, party workers, attenders, drivers, a few hundred staff members and others on duty.
The meeting stood out for only one thing: Members of the BJP, Congress and BRS shouting at the top of their voices. While the BRS leaders kept shouting, “Modi, down down”, the BJP corporators retaliated by chanting, “Modi zindabad, Mayor down.”
Komatireddy Venkat Reddy discomfited
Star campaigner of the TPCC Komatireddy Venkat Reddy faced embarrassment when he tried to meet AICC emissary Digvijay Singh at a star hotel. Singh reportedly told Reddy that the hotel was not a party office to discuss Congress affairs. In fact, Digvijay asked Venkat Reddy why he couldn’t come to the party office. Sources who were part of the conversation said that Digvijay finally relented and lent his ear to Venkat Reddy as the latter was to attend the ongoing Parliament session.
During the discussion, Digvijay categorically informed all of Revanth’s detractors that the TPCC chief would not be changed.
Yaskhi fails to meet Digvijay, creates a buzz
While Congress leaders lined up at the Gandhi Bhavan to present their point of view to Digvijay Singh, the emissary sent by the party high command to cool the frayed tempers, conspicuous by his absence was Madhu Yaskhi Goud, the Telangana Congress Campaign Committee chairman.
Yaskhi’s absence raised many an eyebrow, considering the fact that he was among the senior leaders who participated in the meeting held at CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s residence following the uproar over the reshuffle of the Telangana Congress panels. Yaskhi’s absence sparked a discussion in Congress circles that he is not on good terms with Digvijay. This kind of talk is something Yaskhi certainly does not desire.
Ticket worries drive some BJP leaders to the edge
BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ has become a cause for worry for some saffron party leaders aspiring for tickets to contest the next Assembly elections. While there are those who have already contested multiple times from their respective constituencies, there are also new entrants who have played a key role in the party’s growth over the last couple of years.
Having realised that relying solely on BJP’s voter base isn’t enough to win the election, the party’s central leadership has focused on attracting tier-1 and tier-2 leaders from Congress and BRS. With the election season nearing, the original ticket aspirants are in a dilemma of whether to spend money and conduct party programmes aggressively or wait till their ticket is confirmed.
Not worried about the tickets, some leaders are going ahead by spending in their respective constituencies to build their own support base, while there are also those smart ones who have been lobbying in New Delhi and staying away from their constituencies.
Meanwhile, there are also those ‘bhakts’ who have taken Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice “if you want to become an MLA or an MP, start feeling like one, and that will help you reach there”, a little too seriously.
Inputs: S Bachan Jeet Singh, Vivek Bhoomi,B Kartheek, Ireddy Srinivas Reddy