Yesterday, we mentioned that the Congress has put a full stop to its leaks on Telangana. It turns out that we were wrong. Last evening, sources belonging to the department of leaks told CNN-IBN that “options of including Kurnool, Anantpur in Telangana have been kept open”. There really seems to be no end to the dangerous games that Sonia Gandhi-led Congress is playing.
Results of 3rd and final phase of Panchayat poll
Panchayat polls were held this month. They were delayed by two years for various reasons. The third and final phase was held on Wednesday. The results were out by the night. The Congress and TDP have evenly split the honours — going by 99 per cent of the media reports. The one per cent media – Sakshi TV however, has a different take (not unexpected because it is owned by Jagan Mohan Reddy).
Elections to the Panchayat are not held along party lines. Hence the number of panchayats won by various parties vary. Most of the media though, has placed near equal numbers for both the Congress and the TDP (absolute numbers vary). However, there is another uniform opinion that since these elections take place under the aegis of local issues and local politics, we can’t read too much into them.
For example, the TRS has drawn a blank this election. Given the situation right now, it would be impossible for an outsider to believe so!
The situation in Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra
The unthinkable has happened in Andhra Pradesh. The State, which is generally known to revere the Gandhi family, the State where most of the Government schemes are named either after Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, the State that Sonia Gandhi takes for granted, was witness to the vandalising of the statues of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi!
It was not vandalisation in the dead of the night. These incidents occurred in broad daylight. First the protesters threw slippers at the statue of Rajiv Gandhi and then they set fire to two statues of Indira and Rajiv. Rajiv Gandhi’s statue was brought down at another centre. Such is the anger that has permeated into Seemandhra.
Before the announcement was made, most Congress leaders (Ministers, MLAs and MPs) had announced that they will resign if an announcement favouring Telangana was made. Many of them are yet to resign, and therefore, have invited the wrath of the agitators. They are directly questioning why these leaders are still silent! These leaders plan to meet at 7 pm on Thursday to announce further course of action. We wait till then.
Meanwhile, most parts of Rayalaseema and Andhra remain shut down on Thursday. Shops, schools, other establishments will remain closed.
The situation in Telangana
There is no change in either the celebrations or the caution being advised. Given that the department of leaks is still active, people are still wary about how the whole process will go through. It is also raining quite heavily in the State, putting a leash on victory rallies.
Telangana Congress leaders have started telling people that though the State will be divided, the Telugu people will stay united. They tell us that Telugu speaking people are mentally united always. There were no takers for this bunk being peddled by these leaders. After demanding vociferously for the split, such rhetoric is cutting no ice.
The reaction of leaders and political parties
Sonia Gandhi has made no attempts to talk to the people yet. Apparently, she told Congress supporters to “sell the idea of Telangana aggresively”. Why doesn’t she come out and try to assuage people’s fears and feelings is beyond the understanding of the aam admi.
Sonia Gandhi has made no attempts to talk to the people yet. Apparently, she told Congress supporters to “sell the idea of Telangana aggresively”. Why doesn’t she come out and try to assuage people’s fears and feelings is beyond the understanding of the aam admi.
It has been nearly 40 hours since the CWC announcement was made (as of this writing), the Chief Minister is yet to address the people of the State. It is quite telling that a part of the State has been shut down. This silence only compounds matter further. This silence is becoming more inexplicable by the passing hour!
Chandrababu Naidu spoke to the Press, stating that he will not talk politics for now, but demanded clarity on a variety of aspects. He wanted a definite time-frame defined for the entire process. He also demanded that the Centre allot at least Rs 4 lakh crore to build a new capital. The TDP politbureau will meet on the August 2 and more clarity will emerge from the party then. For now, it looks like he has been able to keep his house in order.
MIM has demanded that the entire process be completed in 122 days! 122 because it will coincide with January 1! MIM also wants prominence for Urdu in the new State of Telangana (whatever that means !).
The confusion about the process continues
Employees of the State secretariat who belong to Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra have taken out a rally demanding clarity on what their status will be? Will they be asked to leave? How will they be working under the concept of a common capital? Who will guarantee protection of their rights? These and many other questions were posed by them, and quite rightly so!
Various newspapers have started providing in their inputs on resource-sharing. They have put out current statistics on the state of various resources (water, land, power, debts etc). Parallel discussions have begun since many believe that this time there is no going back on the split. Most of the discussions though, are based on a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’.
There is also news that Thursday’s Cabinet meeting might not discuss Telangana at all! If so, another dirty game of the Congress will be exposed!
The genius Digvijay Singh tweeted saying that the settlers in Hyderabad have nothing to worry about. The word settlers is so demeaning. By this logic, is it fair to call Digvijay Singh a settler in Delhi? This genius also tweeted that Seemandhra people should be happy because they have huge gas resources and therefore, have the potential to become an electricity surplus State. Really? Then pray, why has AP been facing such a great power crisis all these years?
This is the level of discourse from the Congress to assuage the fears of the people of the State. Tweet saying gas resources are huge and therefore there is no reason to worry! Instead of playing caretaker and ensuring that a proper discourse is put in place, the Congress continues with its old tricks of compounding the confusion.
Unfortunately, the outlook for today is also very gloomy. Let’s wait and see how the day pans out.
(Photo courtesy: Eenadu newspaper)
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