All parties are speeding up campaigning for December elections in Telangana. Rahul Gandhi’s visit yesterday came as a historic opportunity for Grand Alliance partners to show their capacity for a rare show of unity and strength to defeat KCR.
Only Congress leaders were seen along with Rahul who addressed three public meetings at Bhainsa in Adilabad, Kamareddy and in Old City of Hyderabad. As AICC President was there, naturally a lot of media attention was there from every corner in Telugu states. Eventually, only the voice of Congress was heard in these meetings as Rahul and some leaders made serious attacks on KCR and Modi.
TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu did not take part in Rahul’s meetings for reasons not immediately known. Sources say TDP was against this because of seat sharing talks not yet completed till now. Congress leaders did not show much interest to get Naidu attend these meetings considering the huge impact it would have on voters.
On his part, Kodandaram rejected Congress’s request for taking part in Rahul’s meetings saying he would do so only after seat sharing talks were completed successfully. His party, Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), is demanding more than 12 seats while Congress is ready to give less than nine seats. Sources say TJS issue is going to be a serious problem which will be difficult to solve.
Even CPI leaders are unhappy as Congress has offered to give their party just 2 to 3 seats. CPI senior leaders Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy and Chada Venkata Reddy and others held an emergency meeting when they decided not to accept Congress offer. If needed, the CPI will contest the elections alone. It will walk out of the Grand Alliance.
TDP leaders are presently silent on the number of seats they are going to contest. In the beginning, TDP leaders said their party should get at least 15 seats because their party candidates won in 15 segments in 2014 elections. Congress has also not talked about the seats being offered to TDP. According to sources, TDP may get 10 to 12 seats.
Because of this deadlock in seat sharing, Rahul’s public meetings became a single-party affair. Congress Telangana leaders have failed to realise the mistake they have committed by not ensuring the presence of Grand Alliance leaders at these meetings. Now a clear message has been sent to sympathisers and voters that Congress is failing to play its role of big brother effectively.
During his recent visit to AP, BJP leader and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said that Congress will crush any party or leader who will join it for various reasons. He made these remarks in the context of Chandrababu Naidu supporting Grand Alliance in Telangana. If Congress fails to keep Grand Alliance working now, then Rajnath Singh’s words will be more true than ever.
CPI has already decided to break away from Grand Alliance if it is not given good number of seats. Next follows Kodandaram who has already threatened to see that TJS will contest alone. Kodandaram’s team has grabbed considerable attention because of their strong anti-KCR stand and because of their party being born out of agitators for the cause of Telangana statehood.
Congress is not the only party to be blamed in this episode. Kodandaram should have realised the historic need for giving a show of togetherness and unity for giving a tough fight to KCR and family. TJS is comparatively a political novice with far less presence at the grassroots than their leaders are projecting. TJS agitation cannot be compared to the one that was led by KCR and his Telangana Rashtra Samithi prior to the formation of separate Telangana state.
An impression is created that Grand Alliance is not actually an easy alliance between the partners. If these partners fall apart at this juncture, it will certainly spoil their dream of ousting KCR from power.
G.Ravikiran
