Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s utterances that the TRS and the YSR Congress were hand in glove to bring down the government with a view to avoiding the local body elections, “in which a severe beating is in store for both parties,” was repeated by Chandrababu Naidu exactly, as if he was joining the chorus with the Chief Minister.
If the local body elections are held on party symbols, who stands where in the popular index would come out. That said, the Congress has its numbers to weather the no-confidence storm even if the TDP did not come forth to infuse life into it, just a few hours before the commencement of the budget session of the Assembly.
The padayatra of YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s sister, Shamrila, has a daffy agenda of demanding that Chandrababu Naidu moves a no-confidence motion against the Government. However much ludicrous the demand may sound to be, she keeps on chanting it like a mantra at every meeting that she addresses as part of her ‘maro praja prasthanam’ padayatra.
The YSRC leaders too were worried for a while, if they have to devise a newer slogan to pack her speech and also that the party may have to desist from continuing the charge of ‘match-fixing’ between the Congress and the TDP. Unwittingly, the TDP ensured that the YSRC is spared of reworking its slogans and strategy.
Naidu himself may not vote against Congress
Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu himself won’t be available for casting his vote in favour of a no-confidence motion against Kiran Kumar Reddy Government, just in case it comes to the level of headcount. Of course, he can vote against the Government only if he takes a break from his padayatra – like he did to attend the funeral of his colleague Yerran Naidu — and participates in the Assembly proceedings.
The Congress need not worry as it has enough friends to bail out the party in hour of crisis.Whenever the Congress government slips into trouble, there is no dearth of “friends” to bail out the ruling party.
The three major players in the state – Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Telugu Desam and the YSR Congress – are unanimous in their opinion that the Kiran Kumar Reddy government should go but they lack unanimity in achieving the goal.
With a friendly opposition in the state and a sub-regional party which never uttered a single word against Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the last eight years and a new party in the form of YSR Congress, which is giving an impression to people that it’s more than willing to help the Congress, no one can expect that the Kiran Kumar Government will not collapse even if the entire opposition parties join hands as the numbers are in favour of the ruling party in the state.
For instance, the Congress-led UPA government has been poking fun at the TRS over its demand for a separate state but its leader K Chandrasekhar Rao reposes faith in the party and enjoys a love-hate relationship with the party. He camped in Delhi for nearly a month in September last hoping to get an audience with Sonia Gandhi but no one in 10 Janpath even acknowledged his presence except for some soothing words from Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Though the TRS chief made occasional statements of joining hands with the BJP-led NDA, he is unlikely to do so as even the saffron party is faltering in many states. Now the TRS plans to move no-confidence motion against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in the state but it is aimed at creating uncomfortable moments for the Telugu Desam and YSRC rather than the Congress government.
Coming to the Telugu Desam, its president N Chandrababu Naidu spares no effort in abusing the Congress government and even turns into a revolutionary by asking people to come on to the streets with crowbars, sickles and spears and kill the Congress party. But when it comes to tabling a no-confidence motion, it will be the Telugu Desam which will be in the front to shield the Congress government.
Even when the voting was taking place in the Rajya Sabha on the FDI, three Telugu Desam MPs were absent and the party president N Chandrababu Naidu, who went hammer and tongs against the UPA government for allowing FDI in retail sector, failed to take action. One of the Union Ministers waxed eloquently after the voting on FDI that there were some “invisible” friends in the Opposition to bail out the government.
In case of YSR Congress, which is bleeding the Congress to death by encouraging defections, has been demanding the Telugu Desam to initiate the process to bring down the government in the state says that it will support the TRS-sponsored no confidence motion only if it benefits the state.
The YSRC is also ambiguous on its stand in supporting the Congress at the Centre. The party ruled out supporting the communal BJP at the Centre but would support the secular parties led by the Congress or the Third Front. All these parties are helping the Congress, either at the Centre or in the State, in one way or the other for their own interests. Under these circumstances, it is anybody’s guess on the outcome of the no confidence motion against the Congress government in the state.
Consequent upon Naidu’s teleconference, TRS legislator T Harish Rao reacted in the most-anticipated manner.
By avoiding to take the name of the TDP during his speech of ‘self-proclaimed bravery’ at a Government programme in Mahbubnagar district on Tuesday, the Chief Minister acknowledged the ‘relationship’ the Congress has with the TDP on the sly. This is the argument presented by Jagan’s newspaper, Sakshi, which may not be completely an off-the-cuff remark, for it’s attempt to justify the argument hasn’t been very difficult.
Now that the State Government is fully confident of encountering the challenge of no-confidence, it becomes more emboldened to go ahead with its own agenda. Nonetheless, it is very much worried over the possibility of some more defections which may reduce its majority on t he floor of the House.
The TDP’s rhetoric that it had made a great decision by not kowtowing before the TRS sounds little odd. The chest-beating by TDP legislators Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu, Mothkupalli Narsimhulu and Tummala Nageswara Rao is just a prelude to the TDP-friendly media to endorse and issue a conduct certificate to the main opposition party’s decision not to support the no-trust move.
The Telugu Desam Party could insulate itself of an embarrassment of toeing the line of the TRS, for the latter wanted to move the no-confidence motion against the Congress Government for its failure to create a separate Telangana as the main point, supplemented by the people’s problems. However, Harish Rao said that the TDP’s double standards on the Telangana issue were exposed once again.
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