The youngest state in the country is all set for fresh elections to its Legislative Assembly on December 7 after the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) regime decided to call for early polls after four-and-a-half years in power. As the poll bugle has been sounded, frenzied campaigns, tall claims, horse-trading as well as allegations and counter-allegations are the order of the day. However, the voters, who elected the TRS to power in 2014, do not seem to be so amused with the animated political activities.
Telangana has 119 Assembly seats in which the TRS won from 63 seats in the 2104 elections with a margin of 6,620,326 votes, whereas the Congress won 21 seats with a total of 5,668,061 votes. However, the TRS managed to increase the number of seats to 90 by way of defections, thus marginalising the Opposition.
In 2014, the TDP got 15 seats, the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) seven, the BJP five, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) three and others five. That means the TRS win was not a landslide one, but only that it ‘bought’ MLAs to become an absolute force inside the State Assembly. The Opposition parties, which are united under the umbrella of ‘Maha Kutami’, the grand alliance, will be a force to reckon with in the upcoming election.
The main fight is between the TRS and the Congress-led grand alliance which includes a host of smaller parties including the newly formed Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI). The Congress is expected to make compromises with regard to seat sharing with its allies as it is determined to see the ouster of the TRS.
All parties are turning no stone unturned to get their share of pie. After its much-hyped public meet at Kongara Kalan on the outskirts of Hyderabad on September 2 becoming a damp squib the TRS seems to be a bit shaken. Only a little over two lakh participated, though it was supposed to be attended by 25 lakh party activists and many in the audience left the venue even as the party chief and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was delivering his speech.
Rao, the present caretaker Chief Minister, who initially planned to make national presence, miserably failed in forging an alliance to take on the BJP at the Centre and is now drafting plans to cling to power. His tirade is too full of objectionable lingo, veiled threats and replete with arrogance and malice. People do not seem to be impressed with his tall claims and allegations as his government went belly up in keeping its myriad promises made before 2014 elections.
Widespread discontent
Things do not appear to be all rosy for the TRS as discontent is brewing at a fast pace at the ground level. Lakhs of students from major universities including Kakatiya and Osmania took active part in the movement for separate Telangana, hoping to get jobs and thus securing a decent living. Though the TRS promised three lakh government jobs in its election manifesto, the government could not provide even 30,000 jobs thus leading to severe dissatisfaction among the educated youth in the State.
The promised KG-to-PG free education remained only on paper and numerous projects the government undertook got mired in controversies.
The Telangana Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) led by Prof Kodandaram, which played a key role in the agitation for separate Telangana, was literally kept at arm’s length by the ruling party and was not allowed to enjoy the fruits of their labour. Since it formed its political outfit TJS recently, the hitherto TRS loyalists in rural Telangana are likely to be at odds with the ruling party.
One of the populist schemes, crop investment support, termed the Rythu Bandhu Scheme, provided financial assistance to farmers of Rs 8,000 per acre per year. However, the scheme boomeranged as it excluded tenant farmers who form the base of farming community in Telangana. In fact, the beneficiaries of the programme were solely land owners who was not much involved in agriculture.
There are allegations of large-scale corruption in the government and Rao’s despotic ways invited public wrath. To add fuel to the fire, Rao gave plum positions to turncoats who were actually opposed to the idea of separate Telangana.
Adding to the fiascos, the sway of Rao’s family – his son K T Rama Rao, daughter K Kavitha and nephew Harish Rao are the only other three in TRS to have a say in the party – has given rise to internal disgruntlement and open criticism.
Rao, throughout his tenure, was averse to go to Secretariat, but continued his dispensation from a colossal mansion, the Chief Minister’s Camp Office Pragathi Bhavan. Most of the time, when there were not much political activities, Rao preferred to cocoon himself within the comforts of his farmhouse in a small village called Erravalli in Gajwel mandal in Medak district.
With all these and many other issues threatening to loom large on election battleground, Rao should tread cautiously this time, else dismal result is well in store for him. Opposition parties seem to have been getting more confident by the day and massive exoduses from TRS are happening across the state. Rao’s belligerence towards critics in general and media in particular may also prove detrimental to the crafty politico.
One thing is for sure, the Telangana sentiment has given way to resentment and unless the TRS makes the right moves, these elections will be a tight-rope walk for it this time around!