Another day-long shutdown in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra, another day of losses to business and more crippling damage to the image of a once-progressive state coincided On Thursday as it became clear that the Congress party would have to incur serious body blows in order to force the bifurcation of the state to carve out the promised state of Telangana in the hope of still-hazy electoral gains.
Though it was always on the cards, the Congress party still appeared unprepared for the embarrassment as the elected representatives of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly rejected the Andhra Pradesh reorganisation Bill, 2013 stating that the proposed law envisions the bifucration of the state without any reason or basis. "The Bill has been sent to the Assembly in utter disregard for linguistic homogeneity and administrative viability," said a resolution passed by the Assembly on Thursday.
Reddy has defied the party high command: PTI
While the decision by the Congress-led Assembly throws the state into further political uncertainty, the playing to the galleries continued from all sides: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao's son said the Assembly's resolution was a mere formality and would not impede the formation of Telangana.
Simultaneously, the Congressmen championing the strike in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra claimed they would not permit the bifurcation at any cost --156 of the 175 MLAs of Seemandhra have given signed affidavits opposing the bifurcation. These easily outnumber the total number of MLAs in the telangana region.
The Congress Party chose to downplay the continuing opposition to the bifurcation and the Assembly's rejection of the Reorganisation Bill.
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh pointed out in Delhi that the bill had been sent to the AP Assembly for a debate and comments, but not for a vote.
While this may be the case, the embarrassment for the Congress party is acute -- its own chief minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy has given a signed affidavit opposing the bifurcation, and has threatened that the bifurcation will come only with the end of his own political career (this is notwithstanding rumours that he will break away from the Congress and float a political party of his own) and the state that in 2009 sent the maximum number of Congress Parliamentarians to Lok Sabha is not just a divided house but also a shattered Congress unit.
But most damaging of all for the Congress, the party has had to admit , even if not in so many words, is that it will give up even a thin facade of propriety for political expediency. Digvijaya Singh said in Delhi that the Bill being sent to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly was merely a Constitutional requirement, now fulfilled. "A milestone" has been completed, he said, in the process of the creation of the state of Telangana.
Meanwhile, through the day, protestors took to streets in various districts and stopped buses of state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) and private vehicles. The TDP supported the strike. The idea of 'Jai samaikyandhra' or a united Andhra, was shouted out at sit-ins and roadside protests. Shops were forcibly closed.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has challenged the party high command. He and his supporters have said the provisions of the Bill are detrimental to the interests of the state.
Reddy has threatened that he will give up politics. But the political prospect of cashing in on the popular anti-Congress mood in the Seemandhra region must be tantalising for the former cricketer, once captain of the Hyderabad under-22 team.
Reddy does not have a very large mass base. In fact, his own cabinet ministers and MLAs have candidly expressed their dissent against him. His appointment as CM itself came amid troubled times for the state and for the Congress in the aftermath of the death of former chief minister YSR Reddy and the subsequent breaking away of the latter's son YS Jaganmohan Reddy along with a substantial number of Congressmen.
Despite the chief minister's grandstanding against his party now, the four-time legislator's chances at a big political windfall are slim. From all accounts, he would like to float a regional party with the hope of making a big leap in his political career. But he would hope for some martyrdom in the open challenge he has thrown to the Congress high command, but the party top brass would by now be aware that such a step would only help create yet another power centre in the fractured polity of Andhra Pradesh. The YSR Congress of Jaganmohan Reddy has grown in size and stature mainly based on the idea of perceived unfairness from the high command.
In any case, the truth is that Seemandhra, where Kirankumar Reddy would cast his net, has in fact been captured convincingly by Jaganmohan Reddy, who has emerged as the biggest gainer amid the Telangana imbroglio.
Despite Reddy's efforts, when Parliament convenes in the first week of February, one of the bills most likely to be pushed through is the AP Reorganisation Bill for the creation of Telangana. But the embarrassment to the Congress is now complete.
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