The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Tune in to the tale of two troubled parties

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 07, 2007
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Tune in to the tale of two troubled parties

S. Nagesh Kumar

NewsAnalysis Passport scam has the TRS top rung in a soup, while dissidents spell disaster for Congress

HYDERABAD: The erstwhile allies, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Congress, are grappling with internal problems that vary as much in their dimension as in their root causes.

The TRS is facing a first rate crisis triggered by the fake passport scam. It has deepened fissures in an already divided party. Medak MP and the party's number two A. Narendra has been suspended for his alleged involvement. Two other MPs and at least two MLAs are facing charges of complicity in the scam.

The Congress, on the other hand, is caught in a web of internal dissension after the recent Cabinet expansion. Two MLAs, P. Janardhan Reddy and P. Shankar Rao, have been openly criticising Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's style of functioning, accusing him of lowering the party's image. Four other senior MLAs, G. Venkata Reddy, P. Sambasiva Raju, V. Purushottam Reddy and G. Muddukrishnama Naidu embarrassed him by not accepting his offer to head regional development boards with Cabinet rank.

The simultaneity of these troubles is significant because Assembly elections are due in two years. If the TRS and Congress leaders do not set their houses in order, they may have to pay the price in the 2009 elections. This is easier said than done. In the case of the TRS, one MLA is already in judicial custody while a case has been registered against another. Others have been named in the confessional statement of travel agent Rasheed, accused in the human trafficking case.

Congress' offer

As the noose tightens around TRS leaders, the Congress high command has provided them a lifeline by dropping subtle hints that they could re-join the UPA. Apparently, the Congress wants to garner as many votes as it can in the electoral college that will elect the next President later this year. As the TRS can ill-afford to create an impression that Telangana can wait while its leaders become Ministers, it wants to extract a commitment from the UPA on separate Telangana as a pre-condition for reviving the alliance.

Dr. Reddy's woes are of a different kind, though similar to those of his predecessors like M. Channa Reddy and T. Anjaiah. In the early eighties, Tanguturi Anjaiah left several MLAs unhappy even after expanding his Cabinet to a jumbo size of 63 to curb dissent. Dr. Reddy has no such luxury due to administrative reforms and could take only 44 Ministers.

Dissatisfied lot

Learning from the past, he delayed the Cabinet expansion. But, with Ministers saddled with multiple portfolios and those on the sidelines getting restless, delay was no longer a viable tactic. In balancing the needs of regions, castes and political groups, senior leaders like Mr. Venkata Reddy and Mr. Purushottam Reddy missed the bus.

The Chief Minister has a task cut out for him in satisfying the dissidents when he returns from the US on May 13.

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

Andhra Pradesh