Becoming Rebellions: For crying out loud!

By Sunita Mallesh

Politics, goes the adage, is the last refuge of scoundrels. But tears seems to be the last resort of the those denied tickets by various political parties in the ensuing elections in the state. What’s more, they are weeping and wailing in public. And all that burst of damp emotion is not melting the hearts of their leaders who are turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to them.

On Wednesday, Sunitha Mahendar Reddy, a Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) ticket aspirant wept inconsolably at the TRS office in the city on being denied a ticket. “My hopes have been dashed,” Sunitha said in a choked voice feeling bitter and wiping the tears from her swollen eyes.

Even chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s brother-in-law (wife’s brother) P Ravindranath Reddy stunned everyone two weeks ago by weeping at a press conference in Kadapa. When it became clear that his dream of making it to the assembly would not be fulfilled, Ravindranath Reddy tried to use the power of tears to have his way.

Presently, the mayor of Kadapa, he was seeking a Congress ticket to contest the polls from Kadapa. Even as he wept, Ravindranath Reddy threatened to contest the polls as an independent candidate.

Mohd Ahamedullah has been announced as the official Congress candidate from there. Last heard, Ravindranath Reddy met Rajasekhara Reddy and what assurance he got from him is not known.

As parties have begun announcing their lists, the weeping in public spectacle by those denied tickets, is becoming common. On March 22, Prameela from Guntur who was desperately seeking a Congress ticket took her saree ‘pallu’ to hide her tears outside the chief minister’s camp office at Begumpet. There was hardly anyone there who could lend a shoulder for the grieving Prameela as all were sailing in the same rocky boat.

Prajarajyam Party’s (PRP) Allu Aravind also faced a piquant situation when an elderly man came right in front of his car at the party office recently and refused to allow it to move.

With outstretched arms and wailing inconsolably, the aspirant stopped Aravind’s car literally weeping and pleading that he be given the party ticket.

Another Congress ticket aspirant in Adilabad wept loudly at a party gathering recently saying that she deserved a party ticket. The tears that are being shed, however, are not moving the mandarins of the various political parties.

When deputy speaker G Kuthuhalamma was shocked to see her name missing from the list, she was completely overtaken by grief. She was vying for the Gangadhara Nellore assembly seat in Chittoor. The grief-stricken Kuthuhalamma suspected some party leaders as having played foul with her prospects and dashed off to Delhi to plead her case. And she did what comes usually after crying: Curse. “I am cursing those who have made me cry and filled me with grief,” Kuthuhalamma said.