Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: When the Cabinet was expanded on Sunday, Andhra Pradesh had the satisfaction of having the largest contingent of ten in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government. But, the contentment ended with the numbers. The expansion did little for the Congress to dig itself further in a State where it was out of power for a decade.

The double-digit representation is there for the asking since Andhra Pradesh is the Congress party's bastion in the South having 29 MPs in the Lower House. The expansion raised high hopes among Congressmen, more so against the backdrop of the impeccable organisation, though highly extravagant, of the AICC's plenary in Hyderabad. They had expected that the reward would come in the form of inducting either time-tested leaders or the youth, who were the cynosure at the plenary.

Hopes shattered

Neither of this happened. The aspirations of the young MPs and the ambitions of veterans like Nedurmalli Janardhan Reddy and Gandhi family loyalist V. Hanumanth Rao, were dashed alike. Ebullient Rajya Sabha member T. Subbarami Reddy, the Karnataka-based Jairam Ramesh, the 20-month-old MP D. Puranderaswari besides M. M. Pallam Raju were taken on board.

Political positions in Andhra Pradesh have invariably been dictated by the Telangana factor for the past several decades. Successive Chief Ministers have laboured to give proper representation in the Cabinet to this region and ensure proportionate allocation of budgetary funds and major projects. Claiming that this has never happened, the Congress's UPA partner, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), has adopted a self-confessed single-point agenda of separatism. It has fixed ultimatums every now and then threatening to quit the Cabinet if Telangana was not formed.

Chairman of the UPA sub-committee on Telangana Pranab Mukherjee responded by saying that Telangana was not like instant coffee but an issue simmering for 50 years. Without the BJP spelling out its stand, it would not be possible for the sub-committee on Telangana to give its recommendation, said Mr. Mukherjee in a bid to silence the deadline-hurling TRS.

The BJP is now keen on reviving the demand for separate Telangana. Amid this competitive sympathy for Telangana, the Congress could have wrested the initiative by taking on board more representatives from the region. None of the four MPs included in the Cabinet now belong to Telangana although in the earlier instalment of Cabinet formation in May 2004, four out of the six were from the region.

Caste issue

On the caste issue, the State Congress leaders find themselves on the back foot fending off flak that weaker sections have been ignored. Their defence is that the Prime Minister has to strike a balance keeping all the States and not just Andhra Pradesh in mind. But, this has not prevented the TDP and the BJP besides key leaders in the Congress itself from highlighting the short shrift given to the BCs and the SCs, a week after the AICC plenary emphasised the need for an inclusive agenda.

Although a novice in electoral politics, Ms. Purandareswari, the daughter of N. T. Rama Rao, has been in the reckoning as she is part of the ginger group of young Congress MPs.

This led to open criticism by party veterans like Congress Working Committee (CWC) member, G. Venkataswamy, and Eluru MP, Kavuri Sambasiva Rao that loyalty and long standing association no longer seem to matter in the grand old party. They complain that those who had joined the party recently or tried to expose Congress leaders on controversial issues have been accommodated.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail