Centre’s divide and rue policy

Tags: Andhra, Congress, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, KCR, Rayalaseema, statehood, Telangana, TRS
The Congress, stirred to a panic by resignations of Andhra Pradesh MLAs and an MP in Delhi, seems to have decided to keep its decision on a separate state of Telangana on hold at a meeting of senior party leaders with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi late on Thursday evening.

The Centre’s move has stirred Congress MPs and legislators from the rest of Andhra Pradesh to near revolt. Indications of this simmering anger were evident in the resignation of a sitting Lok Sabha member (yet to be accepted by the Speaker) and threats of resignation from half a dozen MPs.

With the political backlash from other regions of Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra Pradesh intensifying, the Congress reviewed its announcement of late Wednesday night to kickstart the process of forming a separate state.

The meeting, at Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s 10, Janpath residence, lasted about 20 minutes and was attended by Union ministers, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Mr P. Chidambaram, Mr A.K Antony, Mr M. Veerappa Moily and Mrs Gandhi’s political secretary, Mr Ahmed Patel. Highly placed sources said the party had decided to put the issue on the backburner until a consensus was formed in AP. “If the state Assembly cannot pass a resolution, how can we move forward on the issue,” a senior Congress leader said.

Pressure had come in from its own Congress MPs with Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal resigning and many others meeting the Congress president to persuade the Centre not to go ahead. The leaders said the issues of Hyderabad as the state capital of Telangana and water sharing would emerge as the contentious issues.

The Congress, it appears, does not want to precipitate the political crisis and will wait for the state government’s report before going for further action.

This is the first political crisis faced by UPA II after returning to power at the Centre in May this year, but it has handled this in a panicked way. A senior minister compared this with the Kandahar plane hijack episode during the tenure of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

The Union government remained silent for nearly 10 days on Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s fast; it acted only at the last minute, after the BJP provoked others to appeal and support Mr Rao in the Lok Sabha the other day.

“We have sharp political brains like Pranab Mukherjee, Sharad Pawar and Arjun Singh, but nobody seems to have been consulted on this issue,” said CWC sources. Mr Mukherjee was said to have been informed about the decision late Wednesday night. Congress managers are unable to explain why the Union government wanted to make K. Chandrashekhar Rao the “Father of Telangana”.

“If we are really convinced about carving out a separate state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, then we should go ahead and evolve a consensus. But the Centre’s move has made KCR a hero. He set the agenda and the Centre is following it,” party insiders felt.

According to them, the agitation on the Telangana issue gained momentum only after a section of the Congress “actively” helped the TRS and Naxalites. They brought students into the agitation and provoked state government employees.

But the Centre and the high command were completely unaware of their designs, party insiders said. “If the late Y.S Rajasekhar Reddy could check the TRS on the Telangana state issue in Telangana region itself, why cannot the new leadership,” they asked .

Congress managers are now employing diversionary tactics and passing the buck on to the Telugu Desam Party and others. “They will be fully exposed because they are changing their stand on Telangana,” they said.
Well placed sources in the Congress said a new state would not be created so early. Besides, the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, too, is sharply divided, they pointed out.

This means a blame game will begin in the coming days. The Congress will blame the TDP for changing its stance and the BJP will try to put the Congress in the dock for adopting dilly-dallying tactics.

The Centre’s attempt to make K. Chandrashekhar Rao a hero in a decision driven by fear is not going down well. Union minister and AICC leader in charge of Andhra Pradesh M. Veerappa Moily on Wednesday talked to the party MPs from the state individually to elicit their views on bifurcating the state. “But he did not tell us the high command’s thinking. We came to know of this only at midnight,” insiders said and asking who was misleading the leadership.

If senior Congress leaders and MPs are to be believed, a new state would not be carved out early. “We have four-and-a-half years, let us wait. What is the hurry,” they said.

Source From : Deccan Chronicle

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