Chandrababu Naidu and K Chandrasekara Rao are trying to get the better of each other at the expense of government employees whose fates hang in balance.
Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com reports
Sparks have been flying between Telugu Desam Party Chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Rashtra Samithi's K Chandrasekara Rao over the issue of local status to government employees.
A deeper into the issue, however, points towards a personal fight between the two leaders.
KCR, who will be the first chief minister of Telangana, commenced the war stating that no government employee from Seema-Andhra will be allowed to stay on in Telangana.
He went a step further and set up a 'war-room' to deal with this issue.
"We want to ensure that everyone working with us should be employees of Telangana. They have faced enough and more problems in the last five decades, Accomodating Seema-Andhra employees and depriving the people of Telangana makes no sense," KCR said.
Naidu did not take KCR's comments too kindly.
He alleged that that at a time when people of the two regions should remain as brothers, the TRS is instigating the people.
"We want peace and not war and hence this war-room is uncalled for," he said.
The TRS, however clarifies that there are Seema-Andhra employees who in the past have produced fake certificates to obtain jobs and promotions and in the bargain depriving deserving Telangana candidates of their rights.
"Naidu will try and hurt Telangana by using his clout at the Centre since he is part of the National Democratic Alliance," a TRS leader said, adding, "We need to check the antecedents of the employees as we beleive that the 200 employees alloted to Telangana have several Seema-Andhra people in it who could hamper our progress."
The politcal bickering, meanwhile, has triggered insecurity among government employees.
R Ramesh, who hails from Seema-Andhra, told rediff.com: "I have lived here (in the Telangana region) for 30 years, I have set up my life here. How can I just pack up and leave overnight?"
Clearly, Naidu and KCR are trying to get the better of each other. Naidu is acting behind the scenes to ensure a provocation from the TRS. The TRS, on the other hand, wants to give Naidu a bad name by provoking people and then making it look as though he could not protect the rights of his own people.
Old rivalry
The rivalry between Naidu and KCR dates back to 2000 when the latter came out of the TDP and formed the TRS.
KCR started his career with the Congress in 1983. He, however, joined the TDP and contested on its ticket in 1985. He won four elections in a row.
He was extremely close to Naidu and even helped him stage a coup to throw out N T Rama Rao.
In 1999, Naidu sensed that KCR was becoming a big threat due to his growing political clout. He made KCR deputy speaker in 1999, which the latter saw as an insult.
In 2000, KCR floated the TRS vowing to fight for a seperate Telangana state.
TDP and TRS sources say that both leaders try to embarrass the other publicly.
