Eight months into his chief ministership, K Chandrasekhar Rao has put his finger on the biggest impediment to Telangana's progress. Eureka! It is the Telangana Secretariat in Hyderabad. And so KCR plans to give up his office.
Hey no, wait, KCR is not quitting. The Telangana chief minister is a firm believer in the ancient so-called science of architecture and construction and just about every decision of KCR has a Vaastu imprint on it.
And since he claims the Vaastu of the Telangana Secretariat is not Telangana-friendly, KCR wants to build a new Secretariat. The decisions taken there will hold the key to Telangana's prosperity.
(Did I hear people from Seemandhra cribbing, why were we blamed for Telangana's apparent lack of progress all these years if it was the blessed Vaastu of the Secretariat which was the villain of the piece?!!)
To ensure the Vaastu of the new Secretariat isn't "anti-Telangana", KCR has even appointed an advisor to the government on matters relating to Vaastu, designating him as advisor architect. And the CM has decided to move the seat of power, located at present overlooking the picturesque Husainsagar lake to a crowded part of Hyderabad called Erragadda. Never mind if that involves pulling down a heritage structure built during the Nizam time, that now houses the Government Chest hospital. KCR's argument also is that all offices should be housed in one place and that justifies the cost of 150 crores that will be incurred. KCR wants the new Secretariat to be ready in a year.
Incidentally, KCR is not a believer in the adage "Old is Gold". He doesn't care much for the heritage tag that the Chest Hospital comes with, saying nowhere in the law it is written that heritage structures should not be touched. "Land is also heritage,'' argues KCR. "Meaningful heritage is okay. Mindless, meaningless heritage is not okay.'' The Chest Hospital that was once Irranuma Palace, to KCR's mind, is meaningless heritage.
The obsession with Vaastu meant that KCR initially refused to move into the CM's camp office in Begumpet area of Hyderabad. Later, the Vaastu of the backside portion of the camp office was found satisfactory so KCR moved in there, excluding the "vaastu non-compliant" front part of the sprawling complex. The CM's advisor is still checking out buildings in Hyderabad, to be KCR's Vaastu-friendly office-cum-residence.
Meanwhile, the opposition has found in the CM's superstition an issue to attack him with. Comparing KCR to Muhammad bin Tughluq who moved his Sultanate's capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in 1327 (only to realise his folly and move back to Delhi in 1335), the Congress says Vaastu that may be good for KCR may not be good for every employee working there.
Quite an expert in Vaastu himself, KCR has also advised his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu to set up his state capital in Vijayawada-Guntur, as the presence of a water body like River Krishna is good from a Vaastu point of view. Beats a Vaastu-ignoramus like me, why a water body like Husainsagar lake is then not good for Telangana secretariat. And since the present Secretariat complex is shared between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, does it mean the same building is not Vaastu-friendly for Naidu as well.
And if the construction and architecture of a government building hold the key to good governance, why do we make a big deal about electing the right people to power.
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