Politicos differ on role of regional parties

Express their views at a round table conference on the ‘Role of Regional Parties in India’s Changing Scenario’

​Hyderabad: Speakers representing various political parties expressed their views on regional parties at a round table conference on the ‘Role of Regional Parties in India’s Changing Scenario’ organised by the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association (CJA) held here on Saturday.

The Telangana BJP official spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao said his party was a ‘national party with regional flavour’.

Though the BJP had an absolute majority, still it had alliance with 37 regional parties and the party was building regional leaders and showed its commitment to address issue of all regions, he added.

Stating that the days of coalition politics witnessed during 1980s and 90s had run off its time, he said adventurism of regional parties lacks accountability, fiscal discipline and dolling out freebies to keep vote banks led family-centric political parties.

The regional parties had been competing with the Congress in nepotism and corruption and that was why they had disappointed people and hence people were increasingly supporting the BJP, he said.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president T Uttam Kumar Reddy said the drubbing the Congress faced in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere in the country was only a temporary one.

Irrespective of whether it was in power or not, the main agenda of the Congress was people’s issues and expressed confidence that they would come back to power in Telangana in 2019.

He alleged that the BJP and the TRS regimes at the Centre and the State had been attacking the three out of four pillars of democracy unlike the Congress which had always preserved the sanctity of the institutions.

Accusing regional parties of having narrow agendas for short time gains, he said they were autocratic in functioning and treating the respective States as their fiefdoms with no responsibility and accountability, posing a danger to the democracy.

Stifling the Opposition voice inside the State Assembly and banning the right to protest outside were a few examples to point out the functioning of the regional parties, he said. Stating that defections had reached to a new height in Telangana and AP, he said his party had approached the apex court to fight against the same.

TRS MP K Visweshwar Reddy said the BJP had become an elitist party and gained considerable support in urban pockets. Demonetisation had also helped it to reach different level in the country.

However, the development that had taken place in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and the manner in which Telangana was progressing since its formation three years back showed the performance of the regional parties, he said.

TDP leader R Chandrasekhar Reddy said his party had always played a key role in the national level keeping aside regional interests as it believed in the country first. CPI leader Sayyad Aziz Pasha expressed confidence that the Left would regain its lost glory.

He said that the multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-caste features of the country had given space for regional parties to flourish and fulfil regional aspirations. Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader Prof Visweswara Rao said his party was trying hard to fight back the communal and anti-secular agenda of the BJP.

CJA president for India Chapter Mahendra Ved pointed out lack of an economic agenda for the regional parties to provide an alternative at the national level was key issue for their role in the changing scenario.