State of flux

A rebellion and a change of Chief Minister mark a troubled period in the Congress-ruled State.

NALLARI KIRAN KUMAR REDDY has taken over the reins of Andhra Pradesh as its 16th Chief Minister at a critical juncture in its 54-year-old history. Now the State's future will depend on the maturity and statesmanship of its leaders and also of the Congress leadership in New Delhi. In fact, if the latter's handling of the affairs of the only Congress-ruled State in the South continues to be as ham-handed as it has been in the past one year, it may be in for troubled times ahead.

Two challenges stare Kiran Kumar Reddy, a former cricketer, in the face as he settles down to play his new political innings. He will have to tackle them sooner than later, perhaps in January-February.

The first is the Pandora's box that is sure to be opened when the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee submits its report on the future of Telangana by December end. The committee was constituted to study the situation in Andhra Pradesh in the wake of the Centre's hasty and ill-thought-out announcement last year on the creation of a Telangana State.

The second, and equally serious, challenge is posed to the Congress by Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, son of the late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, better known as YSR. After parting ways with the Congress and resigning as the Member of Parliament from Kadapa, 37-year-old Jagan has announced that he will launch his own party in January.

Ever since YSR's tragic death in a helicopter crash in September 2009, the young MP had been cocking a snook at the party leadership and getting away with it. He gathered the signatures of nearly 150 of the 156 Congress legislators to lobby for the Chief Minister's post for himself, which, contrary to his expectations, went to party veteran and State Finance Minister Konijeti Rosaiah.

Jagan's loyalists in the Cabinet openly mocked Rosaiah for allegedly neglecting YSR's legacy in his policies. Jagan undertook an Odarpu (consolation) yatra in several districts, ostensibly to console families of those who lost their lives in the aftermath of YSR's death. But the political message was clear he wanted to keep his large constituency, comprising YSR's admirers and followers, intact.

The Congress leadership procrastinated for 14 months on whether to fulfil Jagan's wish list or to take disciplinary action against him. My mother and I met Sonia Gandhi three times against our conscience, but she was not convinced about our stand, he said.

The ruling party now has to face him in the byelections to the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly seats, the latter vacated by his mother Vijayamma. A bigger challenge for the party is preventing party MPs and MLAs who were supporters of YSR from gravitating towards Jagan.

Rosaiah's woes

Rosaiah, deeply hurt by Jagan's manoeuvres, resigned citing advanced age and work pressure. He felt that the Congress leadership was not doing enough to checkmate Jagan who had gone to the extent of asking him to vacate the Chief Minister's seat and recommend his own name for the post.

Another challenge to him came from within, this time over Telangana. Almost all Congress MPs, MLAs and even Ministers from the Telangana region seemed to pitch in their lot with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Cabinet meetings became farcical as the Ministers were divided along regional lines on key issues confronting the State.

The trigger for these developments was the Centre's announcement on December 9, 2009, that it would initiate the process for the creation of a Telangana State. The turmoil that followed it subsided only after the Centre appointed a committee headed by Justice Srikrishna to look into the regional aspirations of the people of Telangana in a comprehensive and earnest manner.

Rosaiah's woes were, however, far from over. He had inherited his entire Cabinet from YSR and very few owed unstinted loyalty to him. When it became clear to him that Sonia Gandhi was unwilling to give him a free hand to drop Ministers who were proving troublesome, Rosaiah put in his papers. The Congress leadership accepted it gratefully.

Difficult task

The third Chief Minister in the 19-month-long tenure of the current Assembly, Kiran Kumar Reddy has the difficult task of completing what Rosaiah has left unfinished. Apart from keeping the Congress flock together, his government has to brace itself for the post-December situation.

Unrest will be the result whatever the Srikrishna Committee's recommendations are. The uncertainty has already made the information technology industry in Hyderabad debate its future, while the pressure from Telangana protagonists has almost brought down the Telugu film industry to its knees.

TRS supremo K. Chandrasekhara Rao (KCR) has been threatening dire consequences if the report does not recommend a separate Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital. Any suggestion to make Hyderabad a Union Territory is unacceptable, he says.

The only relief for the government is KCR's declaration that he will press for the passage of a Bill for the creation of separate Telangana during the Budget session in Parliament. He does not repose much faith in the Srikrishna Committee's ability to render total justice to the people of the region.

At the very outset, Kiran Kumar made a misstep and it threatened to unsettle his government and shift the focus from his priorities. After prolonged confabulations with the Congress high command, the Chief Minister installed a jumbo Cabinet of 39 Ministers on December 1. But no sooner had he announced their portfolios than he had a near rebellion on his hands.

As many as 10 Ministers belonging to the Backward Classes, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes met at the residence of Tourism Minister Vatti Vasant Kumar and raised the banner of revolt.

Their grouse was that 13 of the new Ministers belonged to the Reddy community and that most of them had been allotted plum portfolios. In contrast, those from the weaker sections were given portfolios that were lightweight in comparison with what they had handled earlier.

Certain safeguards are in place to protect the political interests of the Telangana region as carving out a separate Telangana State was an issue under active consideration before the formation of Andhra Pradesh. Accordingly, the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1956 laid down that Cabinet berths were to be divided in the 60:40 ratio between the Andhra and Telangana regions.

Kiran Kumar fulfilled this criterion by inducting 16 (41 per cent) Ministers from Telangana but the problem ran deeper. Equitable distribution of the 11 key portfolios Finance, Revenue, Home, Major Irrigation, Panchayati Raj, Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Power, Major Industries, Roads & Buildings, Agriculture, and Health between regions and castes was missing. Kiran Kumar entrusted eight of these portfolios to Reddys whereas YSR had given them only four in his second term (2009-10) and three in his first (2004-09).

Demanding a re-allocation of portfolios to ensure social justice, Vasant Kumar resigned from the Cabinet soon after he was sworn in, while others threatened to follow suit.

The high command appeared none too pleased with Kiran Kumar's handling of the whole issue. Yet, it quelled a possible rebellion by summoning the disgruntled Ministers for a meeting with Sonia Gandhi and by forcing Vasant Kumar to withdraw his resignation.

Firefighting by the Congress high command during political turmoil alone will not do. The fledgling Chief Minister needs all the support and encouragement from the Congress leadership to keep the party flock intact.