Hyderabad: Will Telangana see the birth of another powerful regional party? The political circles in the state are engaged in the talks of a regional party as an alternative to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which has dominated the political scene since the formation of the state almost seven years ago.
It comes amid efforts by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to emerge as an alternative and Congress is trying to revive its fortunes in its former stronghold.
Leaders who disagree with the operation of TRS supremo and Prime Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, have started talking publicly about the need to form a regional party.
They argue that states with more than one regional party have experienced rapid development.
According to political analysts, the rise of a second strong regional party in Telangana seems difficult in the absence of a charismatic personality that KCR can adopt, as Chandrasekhar Rao is widely known.
An issue is the predominant factor that led to the establishment of regional parties in South India. Dravidian movement led to the DMC, Telugu pride led to the TDP, and a strong desire for a separate Telangana led to the TRS. In at least two of these three cases, personality did not matter. As for the formation of a second political streak, however, the personality led the movement. MGR’s charisma brought the AIADMK to life, and YSR’s popularity even after his death helped Jagan start the YSRCP. And in both cases, individuals could have more than just a problem, ”said analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy.
‘Coming to Telangana helped the desire for a separate state KCR, and this resulted in the success of TRS. A prominent personality who may be more popular than KCR itself, and has the credibility and trust of people, are the minimum parameters to start a second regional party in Telangana. “Regardless, one can start a party, but if it is just as successful, it is doubtful,” he said.
Recent developments, including the impressive performance of independent candidate Teenmar Mallanna in the Graduate Legislative Election Council election, have fueled the regional party debate.
Former Congress MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy has indicated he will run a new regional party with the aim of electing TRS in 2023.
Vishweshwar Reddy, who left the congress party last month, wants to bring together leaders such as Teenmaar Mallanna, leader of Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), M. Kodandaram and even the TRS leaders who are dissatisfied with KCR but who cannot speak, because they are an alternative.
Vishweshwar Reddy wants to provide a platform for all dissenting voices in TRS who are critical of the functioning of KCR and the domination of his family.
Vishweshwar Reddy, who was with TRS before transferring loyalties to Congress, believes that both Congress and the BJP cannot be an alternative to the TRS.
Nor is he of the idea of joining a new party starting someone. “I’m exploring the possibilities of running a party or joining a new party started by someone else or being independent,” Vishweshwar Reddy said.
Vishweshwar Reddy, an entrepreneur and one of the richest politicians in the country, has started consultations with leaders of various political parties about his plans to drive a new party.
He is also working to unite all smaller parties and strong independent candidates to form a formidable and viable alternative to the TRS.
Reddy would soon meet Cheruku Sudhakar of the Telangana Inti Party and Jitta Balakrishna Reddy and Rani Rudrama of the Yuva Telangana Party and other leaders of various other smaller parties.
He also tried to reach out to Health Minister Eatala Rajender, who apparently has differences with KCR.
Reddy claims the TRS leaders were afraid to speak to him as they suspect the state’s intelligence was typing on his phone.
Interestingly, the conversation with a regional party began amid efforts by Andhra Pradesh, YS chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister YS Sharmila to run a party in Telangana.
Sharmila has held a series of consultations with loyalists of her late father and former prime minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy to finalize her plans to begin her political journey in Telangana.
Leaders of both Congress and the BJP have claimed that KCR is behind Sharmila’s plans to split the anti-TRS votes.
Vishweshwar Reddy has ruled out joining Sharmila’s proposed party, saying the Rajasekhara Reddy family strongly opposed the formation of Telangana state.
The 61-year-old Reddy was the richest MP in the 16th Lok Sabha after being elected on a TRS card from the Chevella constituency in 2014 by his closest rival P. Kartik Reddy of Congress with a margin of more than 73,000 to defeat votes.
In November 2018, a few weeks before the election for the Assembly, Reddy resigned from TRS to join Congress. He claims that the party did injustice to activists who worked for the Telangana coup and inaugurated those who were against Telangana and the TRS ideology and made them ministers.
Vishweshwar Reddy, the husband of the joint managing director of Apollo Group, dr. Sangeeta Reddy, disputes that the 2019 election for Lok Sabha of Chevella will be done on a congress ticket, but lost by almost 14,000 votes of the candidate for the TRS, Dr. G. Ranjith Reddy.
Vishweshwar Reddy’s father Konda Madhav Reddy is a former Chief Justice of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, while his grandfather Konda Venkata Ranga Reddy was a freedom fighter and served from 1959 to 1962 as Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Ranga Reddy district bordering Hyderabad is named after Konda Venkata Ranga Reddy.
Against Mallanna’s impressive performance in the recent election to the Telangana Legislative Council also sparked the debate over the need for a regional party.
As an independent candidate, the television presenter surprised everyone by relinquishing the TRS candidate, Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, in the Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam constituency.
Chinthapandu Naveen (39), popularly known as Teenmaar Mallanna, took second place with 1.49 lakh first and second preferred votes.
He is known for his bitter attacks on the TRS government and KCR on his web-based news portal, which has about nine lakh subscribers on YouTube.
The TV presenter became popular among the news program in colloquial language and in a satirical format.
In 2015, Mallanna contested a congressional ticket for the same seat in 2015, but finished third with 13,033 first-priority votes.
This time he met the president of Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), prof. M. Kodandaram, pushed to the third position.
Kodandaram is expected to give the ruling party a hard fight. A good friend of KCR during the Telangana movement, Kodandaram later became a bitter critic of its functioning and policies.
Although Teenmaar Mallanna has said he has no plans to hold a party, his plans suggest he would like to offer an alternative to the TRS. He has announced that he will undertake a 6,000km padayatra or walkathon and will also set up Teenmaar Mallanna teams at the state, district and constituency levels.
It remains to be seen whether Vishweshwar Reddy will succeed in bringing smaller parties together and decorating an alternative to the TRS.
Source: The Siasat Daily