So intense is a turf war that the main political parties in Andhra Pradesh are waging these days that each one of them — unmindful of whether or not they reach the ultimate goal of securing statehood for the region — wants to score brownie points and emerge the champion. Or, at least be seen as one in the larger political game of one-upmanship.
Political observers note that the Telangana agitation is providing a good platform for ambitious politicians to climb the political ladder. “This, when old-timers, mostly in the Congress and the BJP, are using the opportunity to stay afloat in the current tide,” says political commentator T Ravi.
In the separatist Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the self-styled torch-bearer of the statehood movement, two young MLAs and cousins -- K Taraka Rama Rao (KTR) and T Harish Rao -- are battling it out among themselves in the succession war within the outfit. Rama Rao is TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son, while Harish is his nephew.
KTR, with his communication skills as well as command over English, is trying to build a national profile for himself, while Harish seems more focused on the home turf. After his father, KTR has emerged as the only voice of TRS in the national media these days.
As for the principal opposition Telugu Desam Party, senior legislators M Narasimhulu and Errabilli Dayakar Rao are in the forefront of the internal supremacy war. Interestingly, four MLAs, who recently walked out of the TDP, are also seeking to join the battlefield and be counted.
The BJP has veteran leaders Bandaru Dattatreya, Ch Vidyasagar Rao and N Indrasena Reddy fighting to safeguard their relevance in the entire scheme of things and regain lost glory -- their individual as well as that of the party. Giving them competition is the relatively younger G Kishan Reddy, an MLA and president of BJP’s AP unit.
The list is, obviously, lengthy in the ruling Congress, where the battles are not limited to the Telangana region as such, but stretch to the districts therein.
Topping the Congress’ chart is seasoned leader and Panchayati Raj Minister K Jana Reddy, who even declared that he would become the chief minister of Telangana state, if ever it is created.
His younger colleague from Nalgonda district, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, who resigned from the Cabinet last week, has apparently thrown his hat in the ring even as his followers shouted “future CM of Telangana”, when he came into the Assembly to submit his resignation the other day.
