The Telengana mystery?

RETROFIT

This entire Telengana affair is most baffling. Why should theGovernment of India act in such a hasty manner by making an arbitraryannouncement? I don't see any reason in this move given that TelenganaRashtriya Samiti and its leader K Chandrashekhar Rao were trounced inthe state and national elections this May. So, if the people's verdictwas against KCR and TRS, how did Banquo's ghost return so quickly tohaunt the UPA Government? In the tower of babble since - on theelectronic and print media - there is utter confusion and very fewanswers. Everyone is busy giving gyan on this issue, but nobody iscalling a spade a spade. The people of Andhra Pradesh did not give KCR a mandate for Telengana in the assembly polls. KCR's TRS won 10seats in the disputed area and two in the Lok Sabha. What does thattell you? There is obviously something seriously amiss within theCongress party. Either they are oblivious of the damage that they havedone by issuing the midnight call for Telengana or there is a deeperfissure at a subterranean level. More importantly, this decision orannouncement or whatcamacallit has opened a Pandora's Box - everyoneand his aunt wants a separate state. What do we have here - politicalsagacity or political seppuku? The piece de resistance is that JaganReddy has backed the call for a United Andhra Pradesh. AP has seencataclysimic events being triggered from the moment chief ministerYSR's chopper went down in flames. On Tuesday morning, I was readingThrough The Third Eye, ET's whipsers on their edit page. Two specificitems caught my eye. Both strangely connected to La Affaire Telengana.
Let me quote from Whodunit first: As the political storm that followedthe Centre's move on Telengana rages, nobody in the Congress wants toreveal who tilted the decision in that memorable Congress CoreCommittee meeting. Sonia gandhi loyalists aver she goes by heradvisors. Congressmen who want to shield the PM say he has acultivated aversion for the nuts and bolts of political matters.beneficiaries of Ahmed Patel swear their man only swims with thecurrent. Pranab Mukherjee's backers want everyone to know that hewasn't present at that meeting. P Chidambaram's admirers assert how heis meant to stay focused only on non political administrative matters.Fans of A K Antony say his instinct has always been to duck thebullets at the high table. Those who care for Verappa Moily reflect onhow he made it big without taking any decisions. As for poor Rosaiah,his few sympathisers want critics to get one thing right; he woes hisCM post to his proven inability to take firm decisions. Be sure, theCongress credit hunt will be inconclusive till the mess is managed.
Amazing and probably true insight into the men who are part ofCamelot. The ruling party has been at sixes and sevens ever since itwas re-elected to office this May. Prices have gone into thestratosphere, Headley and Rana (incidentally the other big story) wereunearthed and revealed by the FBI after they had a free run of India,inertia and lassitude grips our political class. Is it that theCongress realising that the opposition is deeply fragmented want to dopretty much as it pleases. But that is dangerous for democracy. Theother item in Third Eye can wait, for I now want to take you on ajourney which is probably the closest to the truth. A piece by thePolitical Editor of Hindustan Times, Pankaj Vohra who has raisedpertinent questions on the sorry state of affairs. Vohra has writtenan incisive analysis, asking vital questions on the conduct of thegovernment over the Telengana fiasco.
He wrote, "The arbitrary announcement by the UPA government that it wouldbifurcate Andhra Pradesh, paving the way for the creation ofTelangana, is a classic example of political hara-kiri by the party.The decision to divide the state is not only against the mandate ofthe 2009 Parliament and assembly polls but has been arrived at withoutany rationale or adequate consultations. What is appalling is that theannouncement was made after a meeting of the Core Committee andwithout even the Union Cabinet’s endorsement. Worse, if such aproposal was to be announced, then Parliament, which is in session,was the appropriate forum. The move not only lacks constitutionalsanction but is also devoid of propriety. Theannouncement will precipitate a crisis in many other states wheresimilar demands have been pending.
"It is alarming to think that along with Andhra Pradesh, now caught upin political unrest, supporters of a separate Vidarbha, Saurashtra,Harit Pradesh, Bundelkhand, Poorvanchal, Gorkhaland, Bodoland, Jammuand Ladakh may also take to the streets. In the process, the Centre islikely to come in for a severe criticism from all quarters if and whensuch agitations spread across the country. People have been sufferingthe acute price rise in silence. Regional forces will now play ontheir emotions and encourage them to demand the creation of newstates. Even politically, the Congress, which had done well tominimise the role of regional players, may find thatchauvinistic forces may once again appropriate the space it had soughtto recover in various regions. Far-fetched though it may sound,heightened agitations in various regions could pose a big challenge tothe Centre’s continuation in office. The political class has alreadybranded the present government as one of babus. In the midst ofemotions running high, a senior official has given further proof ofthe growing role of babus by publicly agreeing that Hyderabad will bethe capital of Telangana. So now we have bureaucrats deciding on thecapital of a state whose creation itself is in doubt."
I saw actor Raja Bundela giving the clarion call for Bundelkhand byholding a presser. And BMW - Behenji MayaWati - has already called forfour states to be created out of UP. Meanwhile, the long forgottenJaswant Singh was resurrected in a Gurkha cap asking for Gorkhalandwhile other agitationists like Vohra has said are crawling out of thewoodwork. Woe betide that moment when Chidambaram announced Telengana.
But let Vohra take up the narrative once again, "The manner in whichthe issue has been handled demonstrates that the decision-makingmechanism in the government is faulty. Why else would a decision,which is likely to severely affect the Congress in its best state, betaken so casually? There has been no reference point on the subjectfrom the State and neither has the Centre put forward anyproposal in Parliament. But a decision has arbitrarily been taken.Why? The issue has also raised questions on whether this was done becausesomeone in the party wanted to divert attention from the variousscams. Or was this done to finish the late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’sinfluence so that his son Jagan would not inherit his legacy? Or wasthis due to the power politics within the Congress.
"Whatever the compelling reasons, the announcement has put the Congresson the mat and the government will have to bear the consequences.The mass resignation of MLAs and MPs from Andhra is an indication ofhow sensitive the matter is. In the 2009 assembly polls when theTelangana Rashtra Samiti contested on the issue of a separate state,it got only 10 out of 117 seats in the region. Clearly, the mandatewas for a unified Andhra. So whose ‘wise’ advice did the Congress andthe government’s leadership listen to on this issue? In any case, theCongress now has a lot to worry about in its 125th year. Between Us."
This coming from a Congress groupie tells you of how indignation isspreading far and wide. As people grapple with the everyday reality ofharsh prices, eggs are at Rs 45 a dozen, potatos Rs 14 a kilo, onionsRs 20 a kilo, while sugar is Rs 36 a kilo. Essentials are skyrocketingand politicians are besotted with Telengana. Its a scary feeling. Butif the same KCR was down and out in his very own Telengana, ostracisedby the voters, why is it that this issue blew up in the face of theCongress party? I will take Third Eye's help again. I have said thisin the past, and I am saying it again, ET's political, yes politicalcoverage is best of breed. Despite a known prediliction for theAdvani-Jaitley camp, the best political stories appear in ET. Ofcourse, Indian Express still breaks the best stories, sadly not manyread it anymore?. It is still the paper for journalists. Probably onlyfor journos now.
Anyway back to Third Eye: What prompted the timing of TRS chief KCR'sfast unto death is shrouded in mystery. After all, only a fortnightago, he chickened out from demonstrating his battered TRS' popularstanding by deciding not to contest the Greater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation polls. As Rao is hoping to emerge as the Telengana herofrom being an electoral zero, an interesting back room detail hasemerged. A few days before Rao's fast, six of the 10 TRS MLAs reachedDelhi and secretly met an influential AICC General Secretary inhandling AP politics. The MLas wanted to join the Congress and pleadedwith the party heavyweight to facilitate their urgent meeting withSonia Gandhi. They said that their attempts to reach out to 10 Janpathvia the PCC set up and AICC managers had been futile given the postleadership confusion. Even as the MLAs were being guided on how to cutthrough the infamous red tape, came the news of Rao announcing hisfast. Some Congress leaders now wonder if Rao took the plunge aftergetting a whiff of the plot to split the TRS legislature party aswell."
Baffling that the same KCR has emerged as the saviour for Telengana indouble quick time. Makes one think, which part of the Congress isbatting for whom. Posers by the dozen, but no clear answers.Meanwhile, hapless Indians like you and me pay more for everythingunder the sun. Demand-supply imbalances, yeah -tell me about it!