Just politics! Nobody's got an agenda on Telangana

While every party jostles to claim credit for the formation of Telangana and stitch poll alliances, the confused voter laments about the future of India’s 29th state.

Rediff.com’s Vicky Nanjappa reports

The new alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telugu Desam Party has shaken the apple cart for both the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Congress.

The inability of the TRS and the Congress to stitch up an alliance now, over TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao’s reported insistence on becoming the chief minister in case the alliance won the election, has helped the BJP-TDP combine gain ground.
 
While parties bicker over political fortunes, the people have other concerns.

“We have been under the clutches of the people of Seema-Andhra for nearly 6 decades. All we want is a smooth transition and development of our new state,” Rama Reddy, who hails from the Telangana region, told rediff.com.

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The electorate in the region is facing a dilemma.

Even as they desperately want to express their gratitude to all parties involved in the formation of the news state, but they are still confused about whom they should support.

The TRS has been with the movement for several years, the Congress ensured that it happened and the BJP has always been supportive of the cause.

There are several arguments on which party the electorate should be voting for.

“At the end of it, all of them did it for political compulsions. Hence, the choice is between the better devil,” Sangam Prithviraj, the student leader from Telangana, told rediff.com. 

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“Basically what we have understood from the people is that while expressing their gratitude they would want the party at the state to have a tie up with the party which would possibly form the government at the Centre. This helps the cause and developmental issues would be taken up and things would go smoothly,” he added.

For now, KCR is keeping his cards close to his chest and is hitting out at both Congress and the TDP in equal measure.

KCR has time and again spoken about reclaiming lands illegally obtained by Seema-Andhra leaders (read Jaganmohan Reddy and Naidu).

Critics say that KCR has only been riding the Telangana sentiment, but not clearly spelling out his plans for the development of the new state.

He speaks about raising resources, but makes no mention as to where the funds would come in from.

There is talk of big capital and corporate interests; many in remote parts of Telangana fear that he may just hand over control of the state to the corporate sector like what Naidu did. 

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TRS leaders, however, deny these assumptions.

“We need to fully understand the needs of the state and wait and see what exactly comes from the Centre. As time passes, all demands of the people will be met,” a TRS leader said.

They also point out that the TRS has assured that 50 lakh new jobs would be created apart from setting up 10 thermal stations.

The TRS is focussing on Hyderabad as it will be the economic engine of the new state. The party has plans to make it a major hardware hub.

The Congress too is not speaking much about the future of the state. They too are going about speaking about how they granted the state and how party chief Sonia Gandhi was responsible for its creation.

The BJP too is yet to come out clear on this aspect. The party spent most of its time deciding on forming alliance. Also, the party has been grappling with issues regarding candidate selection.