TRS strategy to wreck TD BJP combine

WARANGAL LS BY-POLL

Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which is making all out efforts to retain Warangal Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming by-election, has worked out a strategy to put the BJP-TDP combine in a fix. According to reliable sources, the TRS wants to hit the combine hard where it hurts. It is going project the BJP-TDP combine, which has tremendous influence at the Centre, as a hurdle for the development of Telangana.

The TRS, which fears that the BJP-TDP combine is growing into a political force to reckon with in Telangana, wants to push it to the corner on the sentiment of Telangana’s development and paint it as villain. The combine had so much influence with the Modi government that it could bring in a series of projects, but did not want the TRS to garner credit of such development, said a highly placed source to The Hans India.

“Though the newly-carved State has been pleading with the Centre for more funds under the AP State Reorganisation Act, the devolution of funds was taking place at a snail’s pace,” said the source, which is closely associated to the by-poll campaign team. Despite the TRS MPs and the State government’s regular correspondence with the Centre on several proposals, the response has been lukewarm.

“The Centre is not showing interest in clearing the proposals for international funding of certain projects,” the source said. The main reason for this is the pressure being mounted by the State BJP leaders on the Central leadership saying that if the Centre accepts the requests of the Telangana government and releases funds, the ruling party will take the credit. “This would be detrimental to the BJP’s growth in Telangana,” said the source.

The BJP leaders are impressing upon the Centre that it is not just the TRS which played a key role in separate Telangana movement. The State leadership also briefed the Central leaders that the TRS was not in any mood to share space with the BJP and hence suggested the Centre to go slow in the developmental projects of Telangana, it is learnt.

BJP president G Kishan Reddy, who is playing the main role in the game of advising the Centre, is in constant touch with his ‘political guru’ and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu. Now things appeared in a semblance of clarity on why Venkaiah Naidu’s promises by the Centre to Telangana on par with Andhra Pradesh were not materialising, the source said.

The Centre, the TRS leaders alleged, had washed its hands off saying that it had already allocated enough funds under the 14th Finance Commission. Piqued over this stand of the TRS, the TBJP president said the TRS government which had failed to deliver its promises was now trying to indulge in cheap politics. “TRS should concentrate more on preventing farmer suicides and should have the courage to accept that it was implementing various programs like Swachh Hyderabad, Grama Jyothi and Water Grid with funds from the Centre.

By:V Ramu Sarma