If the Centre’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh is implemented, not only will a new state of Telangana be born, but it will also rewrite the electoral fortunes of all political parties in South India’s largest state—in particular, the fate of the ruling Congress party.
The Congress, which had all these years enjoyed considerable clout among people of all the regions, will have to shut shop in Andhra and Rayalaseema which are seething with rage against division of the State. The party leaders hope to offset this loss with a rich harvest in Telangana. But there is a rider. For this, the separatist Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) will have to merge with the Congress.
The TRS is, however, keeping its cards close to its chest with the result that nobody knows for sure if the T decision will work wonders for the Congress in Telangana in the forthcoming general elections.
In Seemandhra, notwithstanding Congress leaders’ argument that YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRC and N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP had given their consent for division of the State in writing, a majority of the people hold them responsible and consider the party Enemy No 1.
Thousands of people attacked State Congress chief Botcha Satyanarayana’s residence in his native Vizianagaram, set fire to his camp-office, engineering college and Cable TV office on Friday and Saturday. In Guntur, the protestors tried to lay siege to the residences of Ministers Kanna Lakshminarayana and Dokka Manikya Vara Prasada Rao. Similar protests are going on at the house of Speaker Nadendla Manohar in Tenali. The Congress offices are being targeted in several districts across Seemandhra.
No wonder, Ministers from Seemandhra, both at the Centre and the State, are in panic. Union ministers Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, MM Pallam Raju, D Purandeswari, K Chiranjeevi, Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy and Killi Kripa Rani, have resigned. But, the situation is such that no one is even ready to believe they quit! The State ministers, MLAs and MLCs of the party, on the other hand, held an emergency meeting under the leadership of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday and resolved to defeat the T Bill in the Assembly. “We have decided to defeat the T-resolution when it is introduced in the Assembly. We will resign after defeating it,” Minister S Sailajanath said.
But cracking under pressure, some Ministers, MPs and MLAs have resigned from their posts and the party too. The moment the Union Cabinet gave its nod to Telangana State, four Lok Sabha members of the Congress, Vundavalli Arun Kumar, Ananta Venkatarami Reddy, A Sai Pratap and Sabbam Hari, put in their papers and quit the party. Similarly, Law Minister E Pratap Reddy resigned from government and party.
“The Congress leadership has failed to recognise the aspirations of six crore people of Seemandhra. Our party high command has earlier promised it would not take forward the T-process till the AK Antony Committee addresses the apprehensions of Seemandhra. But, it failed to keep its promise. Hence, I have decided to quit the government and party,” he said.
In contrast, there is a feel-good atmosphere for Congress in Telangana. Jubilant Telangana Congress leaders expect the T-state by January as the party leadership is keen to get the Bill passed in the winter session of Parliament.
Apart from S Jaipal Reddy and D Srinivas, several names are doing the rounds for the CM’s post. Deputy CM C Damodara Raja Narasimha is a contender as are Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy, IT Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu.