Arrogance of power: Congress feeds on itself in AP

In 1982, Rajiv Gandhi lost his cool – and Andhra Pradesh – on the tarmac of the Begumpet airport at Hyderabad. This was when Rajiv Gandhi was a Congress general secretary and was irked by the boisterous welcome that the then Andhra Pradesh chief minister T Anjaiah had arranged for him. A dressing down followed, and the public ticking-off was seen as an insult to Telugu atmagauravam (self-pride). Filmstar-turned-politician NT Rama Rao rode to power on that sentiment the following year.

Is Vayalar Ravi doing a Rajiv Gandhi thirty years on? This week, the Union Minister who also handles the Congress’ affairs on Andhra Pradesh on a freelance basis, behaved like an arrogant class teacher while responding to reports of complaints from various quarters about Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy. Ravi admitted to receiving such complaints and, worse, announced that Kiran would be summoned to Delhi and asked for an explanation.

Clearly, Congressmen forget history easily and are, therefore, condemned to repeat it.

Even though most Congressmen have their knives out for Kiran, Ravi’s brusque manner of treating the Chief Minister of a State, as if he is some domestic errand, has gone down very badly. In private conversations, they call it the high-handed approach that typifies Delhidurbar politics and Congressmen are surprised that Ravi, who has cut his teeth in Kerala politics, should talk such language.

For Kiran personally, it was an embarrassment;  just a day before Ravi’s beamer, the Chief Minister had,  having completed two years in office,  ruled out any change of leadership, asserting that he was here to stay until 2014.

But look at Andhra Pradesh from the prism of Delhi and the political establishment in Hyderabad comes across as a bunch of squabbling leaders, full of negativity and conspiracies.

On Thursday, one of Kiran’s fiercest critics, senior leader Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy resigned as MLA. Ramachandra Reddy, who too hails from Chittoor district, like the Chief Minister, has never seen eye to eye with Kiran and wanted the high command to remove him by 30 November. When the deadline lapsed, Ramachandra Reddy, who was a Minister under YSR and Rosaiah, quit. It is almost certain that he will now join Jagan’s party.

The Andhra Pradesh cabinet is a classic example of a team where very few respect the captain. Health Minister DL Ravindra Reddy has been a perennial dissident who publicly defies the authority of the CM, and yet Kiran has not been able to convince Delhi to show him the door. Endowments Minister C Ramachandraiah openly bats for his leader Chiranjeevi, while Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha reportedly did not even take the CM’s phone calls during a recent spat. And PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana frequently crosses swords with Kiran.

When Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi decided to sever his 15-year  alliance with the Congress, he blamed Kiran Kumar Reddy for pushing him to take such an extreme step. His party, the MIM, clearly wasn’t pleased with the CM not supporting it on crucial issues.

To be fair to Kiran, much of his problems are of Delhi’s making. Delhi wants to keep him in check, and has given him a team whose sole objective seems to be to insult him. By granting the dissidents an audience periodically, the leadership only encourages mischief and keeps Kiran on tenterhooks. If the Congress really wants him to work, they need to give him a free hand.

But then, Kiran also is part of the problem. Most Ministers point to his style of functioning that borders on being aloof and autocratic. The most recent incident was during the official launch of the work on Hyderabad Metro Rail, to which event Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy was not properly invited. This despite the fact that Jaipal played a pivotal role in making the project see the light of day in his earlier avatar as Urban Development minister. Fingers were immediately pointed at the frosty relationship that Kiran shares with Jaipal, and the CM was blamed for not abiding by protocol – and good grace.

Kiran desperately needs to convert foes into friends; perhaps it might help him to dip into the bestseller How to win friends and influence people.

What works for Kiran, however, is that there are a couple of powerful Congress leaders backing him in Delhi. Plus a Union Minister from the State who works on creating Brand Kiran. And then, of course, there is the TINA factor, with any replacement not likely to do better than Kiran under the present circumstances.

But with just over a year left for elections, the Congress will have to get its act together in Andhra Pradesh. After all, the tally of 29 and 33 Lok Sabha seats from the State in 2004 and 2009 respectively was critical to the formation of UPA 1 and UPA 2.

The high command has to decide if Kiran is the best person to revive an electorally unfit Congress and if yes, back him completely. Encouraging every Congressman to try out his own treatment on the patient – in this case, the Andhra Pradesh Congress – is hardly the way to get him battle-ready.