HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who completed 100 days in office recently, is busy chalking out strategies for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, and has set his sights on winning 12–14 seats in the state. “We have implemented the guarantees we promised,” he asserted and opined that the BJP isn’t as strong as it appears to be and history (2004) could repeat itself in 2024.
In a freewheeling chat with TNIE at his residence here, the chief minister appeared relaxed, notwithstanding a plethora of issues facing him — from simmering dissatisfaction within his own party, the Congress, over Lok Sabha tickets, and nominated posts to teething problems in governance.
Interestingly, his toughest challenge seems to be not the impending polls but governance. “Former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao destroyed institutional mechanisms and ruled like a feudal lord. Believe it or not, out of the 29 departments, he did not review 22 even once in 10 years! We are trying hard to figure out what was happening in these departments. Scores of files were never even touched. To streamline everything in government has been the toughest challenge ever since we came to power,” Revanth explained.
Elaborating, he said KCR was concerned only with departments where he could make money while leaving the state finances in shambles. “We need around Rs 77,000 crore per year for debt-servicing and Rs 55,000 crore for payment of pensions, salaries to employees. It is a mystery where all the increased revenues went into. For instance, it is a fact that the government earned more through excise in the run-up to the elections. No one knows what happened to the money thus generated. We are in such a position that we have to borrow to service debts. We are trying to boost our revenues. You have seen that by plugging loopholes, we have increased our revenue in the last few months,” he said.
To a query on the discontent in the state unit over nominated posts and selection of candidates, he was emphatic. “For the first time ever, we have given nominated posts to leaders from the party’s frontal organisations,” he pointed out. Pressed on how members of the same family managed to get multiple opportunities, Revanth replied that every consideration was given to their work, party’s interests and social justice in finalising names. “This is not a regional party where one could take unilateral decisions. I can only make recommendations and submit names after discussions with colleagues. The final call is taken by the party high command,” he defended.
In the same breath, the chief minister stressed that the government, party and family are not one. “For KCR, it was like all in one. But I decided to keep them separate as it should be.”
He exuded confidence that the state Congress is united and raring to go into elections. “It is a referendum for our government. We have done what we said we would despite all the difficulties.”
Revanth, known for his analytical skills, observed that the BJP’s call for 400 seats for the NDA was nothing more than a bluff. “If they are so confident, why are they running around to stitch up alliances? What is the need for them to have JD(U), JD(S), TDP and even smaller parties in Bihar and UP? Former prime minister Vajpayee called for early elections in 2004 and went with the slogan ‘India Shining’. He lost. If you see, in 2019, the BJP did not go for alliances as aggressively or desperately as it is doing now. Now, it is behaving like it did in 2014 when BJP leaders were not so confident of an outright victory. Logically speaking, going by its actions, the BJP is not as strong as it claims to be,” he reasoned.
