It mishandled Telangana issue at every stage
The Congress's blunders on the Telangana issue have resulted in an unprecedented crisis in Andhra Pradesh where the decision to bifurcate the State has effectively split the party’s own Government. On the one hand is Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, leading Seemandhra MlAs in favour of a united Andhra and who, on Saturday, issued a notice to the Speaker to move a resolution in the Assembly rejecting The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, and returning it to the Centre, as it did not give a reason for bifurcation. On the other hand is Deputy Chief Minister C Damodar Rajanarasimha, leading the Telangana legislators opposed to the resolution. They know well that if the Speaker accepts the resolution and puts it to vote, it will be passed because the 175 Seemandhra MlAs outnumber the 119 Telangana MlAs in the Assembly. Hence, they have cranked up their protest and demanded the resignation of Mr Reddy. The result is a fractured House that has plunged into utter chaos. If Monday saw Telangana Ministers rush into the well of the House to protest against Mr Reddy, on Tuesday they stormed the Speaker's podium, even as the logjam continued amid several adjournments. The matter will possibly escalate, as the Assembly only has until January 30 to return the Bill to the Centre. Chief Minister Reddy has requested the President for a three-week extension but this seems like a delaying tactic. The deadline has been extended once, yet there is no closure.
Besides, even if the Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly adopts the resolution and rejects the reorganisation Bill, the Union Government can bulldoze its bifurcation plans. This is because decisions regarding statehood are New Delhi's prerogative. State Governments are consulted but their opinions, though officially sought, are not binding on the Centre — something that Congress leaders in New Delhi have not tired of underlining. Yet, the fact remains that if the Government of Andhra Pradesh officially registers its objection to the bifurcation plan through this resolution, it will rob the Union Government of the moral force to place the Bill in Parliament. But then again, the Bill's passage is crucial to the Congress's pre-poll calculations. The Telangana region has 17 of Andhra Pradesh's 42 lok Sabha seats and the beleaguered party cannot afford to lose these seats, especially since it faces an uphill battle in the remaining 25 seats from Seemandhra. For the Congress high command, this is a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. Yet, it did not necessarily have to be this way — the BJP-led NDA regime reorganised several States during its tenure and none of them led to such a crisis, either political or social. But the Congress has kept the Telangana pot boiling for decades, and is now seeking to use it for petty electoral gains. In doing so, it has not just alienated a large segment of its own party but also betrayed the trust of the people from across Andhra Pradesh.