The fast-track political developments in Hyderabad and Delhi since last week on the protracted Telangana statehood issue once again focus attention on what is the Congress high command up to? Is the Telangana state round the corner? Or is the state going to be trifurcated? Will it be Rayala Telangana, Greater Rayalaseema and a truncated Coastal Andhra? While the Congress high command has succeeded in revving up the morale of party leaders from Telangana, it has caused confusion among its own rank and file in Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra with its promise that a decision on the long-awaited issue is round the corner.
Though AICC pointsman Digvijay Singh has talked only about two options — granting separate Telangana state or keeping AP united — all kinds of permutations are floating around. Initially, it was high command is not averse to forming Rayala Telangana by splitting the state on 50:50 basis, that is Telangana plus two Rayalaseema districts (Kurnool and Anantapur) and Seema Andhra comprising Coastal Andhra and remaining two Rayalaseema districts (Kadapa and Chittoor). The idea of splitting Rayalaseema has raised the hackles of Congress leaders of that region.
Now, some Rayalaseema leaders have put forward the demand for greater Rayalaseema consisting of four Seema districts plus two contiguous coastal districts, Prakasam and Nellore, in the event of a separate Telangana state being formed with its 10 districts. This may leave only a truncated coastal Andhra state with only seven out of its existing nine districts. It is like rubbing salt into the wounds of Samaikhya AP votaries from the coastal region. The end-result of this wild goose chase for an acceptable decision on Telangana issue is that there is confusion all around. Party leaders from Telangana, Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra are racking their brains to figure out what is the ‘ultimate solution’ being hammered out by their high command.
The urgency in the Congress camp in Delhi to resolve this long-pending issue is on account of political exigencies, more precisely, the need to win a large number of Lok Sabha seats from the state in the next parliamentary elections. Honouring the public sentiments in Telangana region or ensuring the growth and development of this backward area are not the prime considerations. What matters is the number of Lok Sabha seats that the party can garner in the two regions — Telangana and Seemandhra — by opting for one or the other alternative — keeping AP intact or forming Telangana state.
Thus, Congress party’s political and electoral interests are the focus of this whole exercise of finding a way out of the present impasse in AP. The Congress strategy is to do its best to contain YSR Congress Party on the one hand and Telangana Rashtra Samithi on the other so that AP can contribute maximum number of seats to the party’s kitty in the next Lok Sabha polls. Pre-poll merger of TRS into Congress and a post-poll understanding with YSRCP are high on the agenda of the Congress leaders working on the ‘ultimate solution.’ If a quid pro quo with both the parties is worked out, the ‘decision’ may come sooner than expected.
But the worry of the Congress leaders across the state is whether announcing a decision on the issue now would be a repeat of what happened post- December 9, 2009 announcement and plunge the state into fresh turmoil on the eve of the LS and Assembly elections. Can the party placate the people in one region and annoy their counterparts in the other region? Will not this prove to be counter-productive for the party’s prospects in the elections?
The opposition parties —TDP, YSRCP, TRS and BJP — are beset with their own problems in the run-up to the next polls. Yet, the Congress finds itself in the most unenviable position ever. Anti-incumbency accumulated over nine years of its rule, the unresolved Telangana tangle since 2004, the Jagan factor after YSR’s untimely demise in September 2009, regional division in its ranks and proverbial dissidence in the party have all sapped the energies of the Congress. The impending decision on the state’s fate may further impact its electoral fortunes. Only providence knows what lies in store for the Congress here.
