Revanth finally cracks whip, but he needs to do lot more for a 2nd term
In Short
Telangana Chief Minister unlikely to be in the reckoning for power in next polls if he fails to set things right
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Revanth finally cracks whip, but he needs to do lot more for a 2nd term
Groupism will not prevent Congress from coming back to power in the next Assembly polls if voters feel that the Revanth Reddy government has done better than the previous KCR government. Otherwise, they will show the door to Congress and Revanth. Any kind of political rhetoric will not help Congress
Telangana Chief Minister Anumula Revanth Reddy acted swiftly, strongly and deftly when he dismissed Konda Surekha, the Minister for Endowments, Environment and Forests, from his Cabinet last week. Not many expected such stern action from the Congress party and its chief minister. However, going by the way the issue panned out, there were clear political signals from the beginning that all doors were shut for the woman minister, and her axing was only a matter of time. The direct challenge to the Chief Minister by Konda Surekha’s daughter over Parkal Assembly seat was the last straw though Surekha could save herself from disciplinary action during earlier two controversies – her comments against actor Akkineni Nagarjuna’s divorced daughter-in-law and her daughter’s outburst against Chief Minister when police tried to arrest Surekha’s aide. Any inaction this time would have weakened Revanth Reddy’s standing considerably besides taking a toll on the Congress party in the state.
However, the party high command and Revanth Reddy appeared to be overly cautious on controlling collateral damage in the Surekha issue. Giving posts to three women from backward classes (BCs) and sacking a loyalist like G Chinna Reddy went on to show how worried the Congress party was. The ground reality is different though. Surekha may not retain her seat in the next elections as there is widespread discontent against her leadership as of now.
That’s the reason why she refused to resign as the MLA even after she was dropped from the Cabinet. It is to be seen whether she will remain in Congress or explore other options. However, she can’t join BJP right away because the saffron party might ask her to resign as MLA before joining. That’s a risky gamble for her. Looks like BRS will be the only option for her.
She has already paid a heavy price for her strategic blunders and lost her Cabinet berth. Going by her behaviour and statements, she didn’t expect that the high command would be bold enough to give Revanth a free hand to act against her. People around her seem to have misguided her. She completely misread the political signals. Now, it will be good for her to wait till the time elections are round the corner before making a political move depending on the voters’ mood. Vivek Venkataswamy, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Jupally Krishna Rao and Tummala Nageswara Rao did that, joined Congress just before the 2023 Assembly polls and secured Cabinet berths. Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy also did that but is yet to benefit from the move as he is still to get a ministerial berth. Nothing wrong in Raj Gopal Reddy getting frustrated!
A couple of days after sacking Surekha, Revanth Reddy reiterated at a public meeting in Nalgonda district that he would get a second term. No doubt, swift action against Konda Surekha surely enhanced his image. The move will also help him to have a stronger grip over the party affairs in the state and rein in indiscipline. But he needs to do a lot more to be in the reckoning for power for a second consecutive term as it’s always a challenging task for any chief minister to convince voters for a second successive chance. Only three chief ministers succeeded in that in the last four decades - Nara Chandrababu Naidu and YS Rajasekara Reddy (YSR) in the undivided Andhra Pradesh and Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) in Telangana post the bifurcation.
Naidu’s concerted efforts to develop Hyderabad as an Information Technology hub helped him get a second term in 1999 while path-breaking welfare schemes like Aarogyasri and fee reimbursement as well as an intense focus on irrigation sector with Rs one lakh crore outlay, propelled YSR into a second term in 2009. Many still consider the YSR rule as a golden era for Telugus as he succeeded in striking a meaningful balance between welfare and development.
On his part, KCR retained power by riding on a positive vibe created by Rythu Bandhu, a high value financial support scheme for farmers. Revanth Reddy is yet to create a similar impact with any of his decisions in the last three years or so. Does he have anything up his sleeves in the next one year? Musi rejuvenation and metro rail expansion are old projects. He can’t take sole credit for them. He seems to be banking on Future City, which may not fetch electoral dividends. Furthermore, some of key election promises like hike in old age pensions that the Congress made, are yet to be implemented. There are several other shortcomings as well.
Frankly speaking, Congress bit off more than it could chew when it comes to 2023 poll promises. It promised the moon, to say the least. The grand old party is now struggling to fulfill those promises. The TPCC Manifesto Committee should also take the blame for that, as also Revanth Reddy who approved the promises. He can’t blame the debt pile left behind by the BRS government for not implementing the promises. The Congress party was in power at the Centre for a long time. It ruled undivided Andhra Pradesh uninterruptedly till 1982 and it came to power three times post the NTR phenomenon that saw the emergence of his Telugu Desam Party as an influential political force. Now, Congress is in power in Telangana. Doesn’t it have a couple of bright minds that can read the financial position of the state before making promises? Perhaps, they prepared it with the sole objective of coming to power, not for retaining power in the next polls. And that’s what they will get in return if things don’t change.
Revanth Reddy also can’t accuse the Modi government at the Centre of non-cooperation. People know very well that BJP is a key political rival to the Congress in the state. So, people won’t take it seriously if Revanth Reddy criticizes the Centre. They treat it more as political criticism, and nothing else. Furthermore, there are ample chances of such a stand backfiring and giving credence to BJP’s idea of double-engine sarkar, which implies the need for a single party being in power in the state as well as at the Centre.
To turn the tide in his favour in the next polls, Revanth Reddy needs to find a way to lessen the adverse impact of not implementing some of the key high value promises that Congress has made. He should convincingly explain why he was not able to implement them.
On the private investments too, the Revanth Reddy government has nothing much to showcase. For, Andhra Pradesh under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu is doing much better on this front. Andhra Pradesh has neither a proper capital city nor a commercial city that can match the commercial ecosystem of Hyderabad. Despite that, Andhra Pradesh is attracting investors and big-ticket investments. At present, AP tops the list of states with highest investment flow. Naidu also fast-tracked the construction of Amaravati Greenfield capital city which, if completed on schedule, will be a game changer for the state. Whether Revanth likes it or not, there will be comparison between his government and that of Naidu’s.
Besides, groupism is common in Congress. For that matter, it is common in any political party. But that’s more pronounced at the state level in a national party and in district as well as sub-regional level in a regional party. For instance, the Telangana wing of BJP has the highest number of groups in the state when compared to other political parties, and these groups are the main reason why Telangana remains a distant dream for the saffron party. When Rajashekar Reddy was the chief minister, he could control even the central government as Congress was in power at the Centre then.
But he, despite being so powerful and ruling the state as a regional satrap, couldn’t completely checkmate groups in the state party unit. P Janardhan Reddy and Marri Shashidhar Reddy, described as Hyderabad Brothers in those days, questioned YSR’s leadership umpteen times. Further, Congress won in 2023 despite the presence of competing groups in the party. Some people are using achha (real) Congress and pachha (yellow) Congress (the group of politicians who joined Congress from Telangana Telugu Desam) to highlight differences in Telangana Congress.
But this groupism will not prevent Congress from coming back to power in the next Assembly polls whenever they take place if voters feel that the Revanth Reddy government has done better than the KCR government. Otherwise, they will show the door to Congress and Revanth without any mercy. Any kind of political rhetoric will not help Congress. So will money power. Revanth Reddy can win again if people feel good about his governance. But that doesn’t seem to be the reality right now. Will he be able to salvage and change the script?
