Congress will pay for causing bitterness
The spate of resignations in protest over the decision to create a separate State of Telangana has become as common as the pro-Telangana stir in the past years. The latest to join the trend are four Union Ministers from Andhra Pradesh, including Minister for Human Resource Development M Pallam Raju and Minister of State for Tourism Chiranjeevi, who put in their papers after the Cabinet, on Thursday, endorsed the creation of a Telangana State. They have little to lose because the Government they had been part of is on its last legs anyway. It would have been near impossible for these Ministers to successfully seek re-election from their constituencies that are vehemently opposed to the bifurcation of the State.
They are thus hoping to salvage some advantage in the eleventh hour. It remains to be seen if the Congress MPs who have quit will contest on their party ticket in the coming lok Sabha election or look for an alternative to shore up their prospects. But it's not just they in the party who are at a crossroads; Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy too is caught in a cleft-stick. He has been vehemently opposing the State's division, and there is speculation that he may strike out on his own. His position is untenable in the given circumstances, as he is unlikely to lead the party to victory in the coming election. The Congress is expected to fare poorly in the State — and the reason is not Telangana alone. Mr Reddy has provided insipid leadership and has failed to take along the many factions the party has in the State. Telangana has added to his woes. But then, persuasion and coercion by the party's high command too has failed to make Congress leaders of the Seemandhra region in the State fall in line. As a result, the party is not only facing the prospect of an electoral disaster but also more desertions by important leaders of the State.
The crux of the problem is not the division of Andhra Pradesh — a new Telangana State has been long overdue and is welcome — but the ham-handed manner in which the Congress and the Government that it leads in New Delhi have handled the issue. To begin with, they remained ambivalent for years, and that led to tempers soaring both in the anti-Telangana and the pro-Telangana camps. The ensuing confrontation destroyed the atmosphere for a peaceful resolution of the issue. Then the Centre announced in 2009 that a Telangana State would indeed be created. But it did little to further that promise, leading to more protests and vitiation of the situation. Both sides realised that the Government was playing politics. Contrast this clumsiness with the efficient manner in which the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government had created the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. Everybody, including the States that were to be divided, worked together for the creation and developed of the new entities. This became possible because the NDA regime had united, and not divided, the people on the issue.