Wake up all T-MPs and MLAs, if you want Telangana!

Similarly, wake up other MPs/MLAs cutting across the political spectrum if you are genuinely interested in protecting AP interests and also your own interests. Demand Congress High Command for announcing special packages for all the three regions. Now is the time for you to show your clout.

If you cannot do it now when it is secret ballot, when will you do it? Do remember that the Congress High Command has not even been making promises what to talk of ‘breaking’ them or not fulfilling them.

Look at the SP of UP under the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav. In return of extending support to UPAs nominee for President’s post, the UPA government has announced a whopping Rs. 45,000 crores as a special package. They may even get prime cabinet berths for their nominees in the next cabinet reshuffle scheduled prior to monsoon session of the Parliament.

Call it by whatever term one may prefer; it mercilessly exposes the Congress Party’s ‘dirty tricks’ strategy. The Congress High Command has exposed its vulnerability. The party caves in and succumbs to blackmailing tactics. In the past also, the Congress Party had succumbed to both the DMK and the TMC and offered them ‘key’ cabinet portfolios out of proportion to their representation.

For being loyal to the High Command, not only the AP interests have not been protected, but also the MPs denied their fair share of cabinet posts (key portfolios) due to them for the people solidly backing the Congress Party sending 35 MPs. Shame be to all leaders claiming to be heroes. As it stands, all are zeros only in front of the uncrowned empress and cameo prince in waiting to be PM.

If the people’s representatives of Telangana region are genuine, they have got a ‘golden opportunity’ to intensify their demand for separate statehood on the eve of Presidential elections scheduled for July 19. What should they do?

Should they believe the Congress-led UPA government’s alleged promise of considering the demand favorably after the Presidential polls? If they have to go by their past experience, this ‘promise’ too may just ‘remains a promise’ like of the past. In the past, the UPA government promised of taking up the T-issue after the by-elections to five states. That was more than six months back.

Later, it posted the promise after the ‘Bakrid’ festival. Subsequently, it was the by-polls (excuse) in Andhra Pradesh to 18 assembly constituencies and lone Nellore constituency, and now after the Presidential polls.

The TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao’s may lay claim that he already received an indication for granting statehood.

What does it mean? Has he really got any ‘firm’ assurance from the Centre, especially from either Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh or the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi? Why are they not announcing it in the media?

On the contrary Kiran Kumar Reddy has recently stated that the issue is linked to other states also, which was a known fact from day one. It clearly exposes the ‘double speak’ by all leaders.

People of the region, by-and-large are ‘sick of such crude joke’ being played on them by all political representatives.

I, for one, as a political analyst feel that any party which choose to fight for separate statehood should best exploit ‘golden opportunities’ like the Presidential poll to force Centre to make the announcement now. Well, they might have committed political hara-kiri by resigning in the past. Now, it is the critical time to get their demands through.

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) must act now. Voting in the presidential to be done only if the declaration of Telangana statehood is made between now and the Election Day. If any one violates the demand of the JAC, they should be boycotted by the JAC.

Reasons best known to them, all other parties other than TRS have chosen to break away from the TJAC branding it as a foisted by TRS. The TRS leadership except for making lot of noise has only given an opportunity for the Congress-headed UPA at the Centre to put the genuine demand on the back-burner on some pretext or the other. Should the T-region MLAs and MPs unite on voting issue of Presidential poll, it would send a strong message to the Congress Party.

That the sentiment among the people of the region is strong but the political parties lack this understanding is evident from the by-polls held after 2009 elections in which the TRS and TRS-backed candidates won the ballot-battle with convincing victories.

Having spearheaded the demand for Telangana statehood and aroused the emotions of people of the region, they should not fool or hoodwink them any more. They should take Presidential election as a ‘golden opportunity’ come in their way, grab it and en-cash on it.

The least they should do is to enblock abstain from voting. The least is that it would send a strong message to New Delhi that they cannot treat people is disdain.

I also beg to differ with those canny Congress members’ argument that the T-demand should not be linked to Presidential elections, nothing but absolutely absurd. Ironically, this time around our next President will be chosen by an electoral college, which includes 141 murder accused, six alleged rapists and 90 members charged with kidnapping (sic)

Only such ‘loud and clear’ message to the UPA government alone will help realize the T-dream. Or else, I have no doubts that it is bound to remain a ‘distant’ dream forever!