Telangana woes: Why Congress will settle for President’s rule

By Usha Turaga Revelli  Who would have ever thought that the historic and sleepy town of Vizianagaram would one day become a seething cauldron, reminiscent of the Bobbili battles of the region many centuries ago, that required authorities to clamp a curfew in the town? The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Botsa Satyanarayana definitely did not expect this. Nor did he imagine that he would become the prime target of the protesters in his home town, who went on a rampage, destroying a sizeable percentage of the business empire that belongs to him and his family members in the district. The situation got so alarming that the Congress state-in-charge Digvijaya Singh was forced to declare that Botsa would be provided with ‘heavy’ security. Ironically, Botsa was at Tirupati not so long ago, beseeching Lord Venkateswara to keep the state united. Vizianagaram continues to be tense even today as the protesters defy curfew, pelt stones at police and swarm in the streets. [caption id=“attachment_1156899” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The violent protests in Vizianagaram have caught many by surprise. PTI[/caption] Tear gas, rubber bullets, firing in the air – nothing seems to deter the angry people. Even women vegetable sellers clashed with police, symbolically slapping their thighs, emulating a traditional battle cry in the Telugu land. Elsewhere in Kurnool in Rayalaseema, mobs broke hundreds of slabs of the betamcherla stone – a stone for which the region is famous - on the roads, rendering the roads impassable. But what’s really pinching the pulse is the strike by the power employees, bringing power generation at Vijayawada Thermal Power Station to a complete halt, with all the seven units now dysfunctional. Power supply collapsed, plunging vast areas of the coastal districts into darkness. The strike has since intensified with contract employees joining the strike for a united state. The state’s politicians, meanwhile, continue to mumble and jumble as they frantically try to find ways to somehow endear themselves to the protesters. As fasts-unto-death are once again in vogue, it appears that political leaders, irrespective of their parties in Andhra Pradesh, believe that desperate situations call for desperate actions. YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president Jagan Reddy is into the third day of his fast and Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu has embarked on a fast in Delhi. However, it is hard for people to forget the contradiction in these leaders’ stances, as both of them had actually declared their support to a separate Telangana initially, but changed tacks when the process of the state bifurcation has been set in motion. Incidentally, neither the TDP nor YSRCP have the numbers to pose any serious threat to the Telangana Bill when it is expected to be tabled in Parliament in the Winter session. The most fascinating drama, however, is in the political arena with the Congress leaders - even as they are struggling to find a foothold in the shifting sands of AP politics - eyeing the top post in the state for one last stint. As Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy finally made his defiance of the high command an open secret, Congress seniors hope that he will either quit or will be removed, and they can contend for the post. One of the indications of this plan came from a couple of ministers, such as Higher Education Minister D Manikya Vara Prasad and Union Minister Panabaka Lakshmi, who made statements saying that the CM should have stuck to the high command’s diktat. Whether they felt a sudden surge of loyalty towards the party leadership, or it is an attempt to win over the affections of the bosses for coveted rewards is something that they can only tell. Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy emerging as a power centre in the recent weeks is a political development worth watching too. Digvijaya Singh says the Cabinet note will be sent to the State Assembly for its opinion. But with Seemandhra protests escalating to an unprecedented scale and spread, the CM fretting openly, the leaders caught between the devil and the deep sea, and the Congress state-in-charge asking the CM to do something about law and order quickly, it appears the note may never have to be presented to the Assembly at all. If Vizianagaram is anything to go by, the Congress will jump at a chance to push for President’s rule, something neither the protesters nor the people’s representatives of Seemandhra regions want.