Tricky trail: Cong, TDP skirt statehood

The TDP is walking a tightrope on the T-sentiment. Chandrababu Naidu has not spelt his party’s stance on the issue clearly, preferring to leave it for “consideration later as there are more important issue to deal with first.” The party has raised development issues like clean drinking water, power, and employment far more convincingly than the Congress which is harping on its sops like the Rs 2 per kg rice scheme, free power and government-sponsored schemes like housing and irrigation.

Ten districts make up the Telangana region—Warangal, Adilabad, Khammam, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Medak, Ranga Reddy, Karimangar, Nizamabad and Hyderabad. Except for Hyderabad, all other districts face drinking water problems, erratic power supply, lack of water for irrigation and unemployment. Mahbubnagar, Adilabad and Medak have been witnessing large-scale migration due to unemployment and failure of crops.

Ravindra Reddy, a farmer of Gajvale Mandal in Medak district, says that while the Telangana sentiment is strong, farmers and people want proper power supply, water for drinking and irrigation and proper implementation of government schemes.

And that’s where the TDP seems to be getting it right. Starting from Medak district, the Congress campaign concentrated on government’s sops and benefits while the TDP adopted a pro-farmer friendly approach talking of crop loan waivers and free power supply.

However on Sunday, as results of the Karnataka polls started pouring in, the equations for the Congress and TDP changed drastically. YSR and Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee chief D. Srinivas called meetings to find out if the promises of sops and largesse were working.

“The BJP’s gains in Karnataka has certainly put the Congress on the backfoot. If sops didn’t work there, it might not work here too and considering that the bypolls would be an indication of what to expect in the assembly general elections next year, it is a worrying factor,” an APCC official said. “In Telangana, where the statehood sentiment is strong, it was difficult to campaign by staying away from that issue,” he said.

TDP politburo member Yerram Naidu claimed the popular support for the TRS has waned since the 2004 elections. “There are other pressing problems and people want someone to address them. Separate statehood is fine but what they need is regular power supply, water for drinking and irrigation. That is why the TDP may make gains in this region this time,” he said.

In his campaigns in Warangal, TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao has promised to fight for a separate Telangana. For the TRS and Rao, there is no other issue as potent as statehood. Ask him how and when that will happen considering the TRS has no base outside the region, Rao has no answers. “We will fight to the finish. But first, we will dislodge this Congress government for backstabbing us,” Rao, who is contesting from Adilabad.

50 YEARS OF TELANGANA

Successive governments have tread very carefully on the statehood issue. That is the reason both the ruling Congress and the TDP, which is hoping to come back to power next year, are not making any commitments.

Looking back:

• Telangana has a rich history and distinct culture. Warangal is one of the oldest cities in AP with a history that dates back over 800 years. It was the seat of power for the Kakatiyas. However, most of the north Telangana region is backward and underdeveloped.

• In 1956, Telangana was merged into Andhra Pradesh after a separate state was carved out. The region consists of 10 districts: Warangal, Adilabad, Khammam, Mahboobnagar, Nalgonda, Rangareddy, Karimangar, Nizamabad, Medak and Hyderabad.

• The first popular uprising and revolt called Jai Telangana in support of a separate state happened in 1969 though protests and demonstrations by peasants started in 1957, a year after the region was merged into AP. Police and paramilitary forces killed nearly 370 people of Telangana when they were staging protests.

Cause and Effect

• But the hype surrounding a separate Telangana has resulted in unprecedented escalation of real estate prices in Hyderabad, which is proposed to be its capital, and Visakhapatanam, which would be the capital of a separate Andhra Pradesh.

Telangana and the Congress

• In 1971, though 11 MPs were elected from Telangana region by people in the hope that they would take up their cause, they all joined the Congress and abandoned the Telangana cause.

• In 1974, the Congress at the Centre amended the Constitution to abolish reservations and special rights for Telangana people called “mulkhi” which existed since the rule of the Nizams.

• In 2004, the Congress and TRS, which won 26 seats, formed an alliance with a pre-condition that a separate Telangana state would be carved but the Congress government has been dragging its feet since then.

Telangana and the BJP

• It is not just the Congress, even the TDP-supported NDA government couldn’t keep its Telangana promise. The BJP had promised to carve out a separate state of Telangana if it came to power. But the NDA government reneged on its promise as its partner, the TDP, was against it.

Issues 2008

• A separate Telangana state

• Real issues that trouble the region: lack of clean drinking water, erratic power supply, lack of water for irrigation, failed crops, unemployment, migration.

• The TRS has a single-point agenda: statehood for Telangana.

• Congress is campaigning on its achievements and hopes its sops like the Rs 2 rice and government-sponsored schemes will come in handy.

• TDP is promising free power for nine hours.

Deals

• The TDP and the Congress mutually decided not to field candidates against each other in Khairtabad and Terlam LS seats.

• The CPM has a truck with TDP in Mushirabad in Hyderabad district and Cherial in Warangal district.

Contests to watch out for

• Khairtabad (Hyderabad district): P. Vishnuvardhan Reddy (Congress) vs Mohammed Khaja Arifuddin (TRS)

• Bypoll had to be held after the death of sitting MLA P. Janardhan Reddy. The TRS refused to entertain the Congress request not to contest in Khairtabad where the party has fielded P. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Janardhan Reddy’s son.

• Jedcherla (Mahbubnagar district): Malla Ravi (Congress) vs C. Lakshma Reddy (TRS)