TRS woos Krishnaiah as he plans BC party

Hyderabad: Backward Classes (BC) leader R Krishnaiah wants to form a party ahead of the next elections even as the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) desires to take him on board to spread its influence across the swathe of all the 112 castes among the BCs in the state.

Lately, Krishnaiah has been hinting at forming a political party since he wants the BCs to have a forum to fight for what is due to them without having to run around established political parties and seek their help for measures for their political, economic and social empowerment.

Krishnaiah is understood be under the impression that if he forms a political party it would be able to draw all the disparate BCs under one umbrella. His supporters say that Krishnaiah has a good name among the BCs who constitute more than 50 per cent of the state's population.

Though Krishnaiah is a Telugu Desam leader now, he never was a TDP man inherently and remained more of a BC leader. His supporters say that he has a vast following because he is known as a fighter for the cause of the BCs.

They refer to how he had opposed the creamy layer among the BCs on the ground that BC reservation should not be seen through the prism of economic empowerment alone but should viewed in the context of lack of respect for them in society even today. Since the latter anomaly has not been addressed, there should not be any creamy layer, they argue.

But the TRS is understood to be trying to hook up with Krishnaiah since he draws a lot of water among BCs. Now, KCR has been trying to warm up to the BCs with several programmes and announcements. He offered a Rajya Sabha berth to one of them in the ensuing elections and called a meeting of all BC leaders regardless of what political affiliation they had and asked them to ponder over what BCs needed and submit him inputs for preparing a BC declaration which they did.

For some time, there was speculation that Krishnaiah might join the TRS after he lavished praises on KCR for his various programmes, including round the clock power supply to the crucial farm sector and for his decision to set up 119 residential schools for BC students, among others.

It was said that since Telugu Desam is on death bed in Telangana and even TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has not been bothering about his party in the youngest state, there is a sense of dissatisfaction among those who are left out in the TDP, after the mass exodus of 13 legislators into the TRS camp while another legislator A Revanth Reddy having switched loyalty to the Congress. That had left only two MLAs with the party and if Krishnaiah also takes the leap of faith into the TRS or floats his own party, there would be only one MLA left - Sandra Venkata Veeraiah from Khammam district.

While this is so, Krishnaiah's critics say that the talk of founding a political party is meant to be a bargaining chip to be used with the TRS when the time of reckoning comes. "Krishnaiah would be in a position of strength to corner a Rajya Sabha seat if he appears serious in forming a party," his former associate and present Telangana BC Association president Jajula Srinivasa Goud says. "If Krishnaiah is keen on forming political party, he should have done enough homework already. I do not see any such work," he says.

But Krishnaiah hopes he would be able to form a party. "There is a lot of pressure on me from BCs since they see in me a dependable leader. No decision, so far, has been taken but there are pleas galore to me to start a party," he says. "We are 112 castes and constitute more than half of the population and yet there are only 19 MLAs in the Assembly which has a strength of 119 members. In the 31 districts in Telangana, there is no representation in the Assembly for us from as many as 20 districts," he says.

By: R Prithvi Raj