Articles
The Great Leader in the Service of the Poor+
Dt: 11/6/15
The Great Leader in the Service of the Poor+
Dr T.H.Chowdary*
After 10 years in the opposition the Great Leader won the general elections in Y 2014 to the A.P Legislative Assembly. Sri Narendra Modi and the cinema star Pawan Kalyan campaigned for him and his party extensively and very stridently. Earlier, for over two years he went on padayatras to almost every village in the state. He wanted to convince the farmers and the rural folks that he did not neglect them, that he did not care only for Hyderabad, and promote only IT. He promised many things – waiver of farmers debts and the loans given to the self help groups ( SHGs) of women, free electricity for a class of framers’ and many more freebees short of langars ( free food centers) in every village. Despite all these, the overall majority in the state was just 5 lakhs. His chief opponent Sri Jagan Mohan Reddy dismissed this majority by saying that in his Parliamentary constituency alone, he had a majority of more than 5 lakhs.
2. The Great Leader had an alliance with the BJP which he sometimes used to call a communal party. This was the third time alliance with the BJP ; earlier ones were in 1999 and 2004. But his defeat in 2004 was attributed by him to the alliance with the “communal” BJP. In the 2009 elections he broke with the “communal” BJP and had alliance with “secular” communists; yet his party lost the elections! These on and off alliances with BJP and the communists show that there is no ideology or philosophy for his regional party, the TDP.
3. He continued the TDP in Telengana after its separation from Andhra Pradesh . He appointed the President and Secretary etc., for the TDP in Telengana. He continues to live in Hyderabad , the camp capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh . Here are some of the actions which bewilder many an observer and analyst.
· The TDP in Telangana says that the separate state of Telangana came into being only because its chief “gave a letter” of consent for the formation of the new state. If this is told loudly in -Andhra Pradesh, then the TDP in that state would invite the wrath of the people. Because the people in Andhra Pradesh are smarting under great deprivation. How could the leader who was responsible for the separation of Telengana be the saviour of the deprived Andhra Pradesh?
+ written before the “vote for notes” affair
· Telangana and Seemandhra are two eyes of his, he often says. But when he goes abroad whether to Singapore or to any other country, he is soliciting investments in Seemandhra; not in Telengana . If the non-TDP parties in Telangana accuse him of dishonesty in asserting that Telangana and Andhra are two eyes, what could be the answer to the question, why doesn’t he ask investments to be made in the backward districts like Adilabad and Mahaboob Nagar in Telangana , the second eye of his.
· In the camp capital city of Hyderabad , besides the Secretariat, there is a camp office in Lake View House. This had been spruced up for security and other services at a cost of Rs.25 lakhs. This is located in the center of the city. Yet in Gandipeta, where there are family properties, a second camp office is set up. That costed Rs. 25 lakhs.
· The leader’s residence for the last more than three decades in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad is vaastu-non conforming as per the latest advice he solicited. Therefore he is breaking it down. He has taken up construction of a vastu -conforming house. He has moved to a rented building for his residence. Rs. 75 lakhs are spent for providing security equipment for this rented house. Besides, Rs. 25 lakhs for electrical fittings and renovation and another Rs. 30 lakhs for bore -well and other appurtenances were spent , a total of Rs. 1cr and 30 lakhs investment in a rented house which will be for the duration that his own house taken to be constructed. This is from the budget of the deprived GOAP.
· One more camp office is got up in Vijayawada at a cost of Rs. 2crs. Therefore, besides the Secretariat, there are three camp offices; two in the camp capital Hyderabad and one in Vijayawada (cost Rs. 2.0 crores).
· The leader has to hop in helicopter from the camp capital Hyderabad to over e distance of about 200kmts to reach his state, A.P. The ministers come here on tour. The only establishments that sit here comfortably are the Secretariat and the Commissionerates .
· Much fuss is made about special status for Andhra Pradesh not yet being given by the central government . Often, it is said that the state finances are in parlous condition. There is sometimes difficulty to pay the salaries in time. But the profligacy does not stop. Apart from what is being spent on the camp capital and camp offices and helicoptering etc., freebees to court popularity are being given -
· on Sankranti day 2015, a packet containing Rs. 347 worth of gifts was given under the title Chandranna Sankranti Kanukalu to the poor. According to white ration cards, 1 cr houses should have received this Rs. 347 cr.
· The loans outstanding from the SH Groups to the extent of Rs.5000 cr are waived. Not only that, the Interest that has already been paid is refunded
· At the time of the next festival, Dasara, poor people will be given one saree and one dhoti.
How can the poor state afford these freebees?
· The Prime Minister talks of Make in India. The engineer talents of India are being acknowledged everywhere in the world and Indian engineering companies of Bombay designed and constructed the world’s tallest building Burz Dubai. But no Indian company is in the estimate of the great leader, competent to construct anything in the proposed capital, Amaravati, of the new state.
· In the 1990s, Vision 2020 for Andhra Pradesh was conceived and written by the intellectuals in this state but now it is so poor in the estimate of the leader that a foreign company is engaged at a cost of millions of Rupees to write the Vision for the blind people of Andhra.
· Konkan Railway, Delhi Metro and Hyderabad Metro etc., are undertaken successfully by Indian engineering companies . But none of them is in the view of the great leader , fit to undertake any planning or construction in the trillion rupee capital project of Amaravati of the new state.
· The 34th Mahanadu of the TDP was held not in Andhra but in the camp capital of the state, in Hyderabad in Gandipet. This proved to be red rag to the Telengana leaders.
· At this Mahanadu the Prince of Wales groomed to be the next chief of the TDP and Chief Minister either of Telangana or Andhra Pradesh, was brought on to the stage. He is already exercising extra –constitutional power. He is not a functionary of the GOAP . He went to US; two officers of the Government of Andhra Pradesh were attached to him. Subordinating senior government officers to a person who holds no position in government is a grave impropriety.
· A few weeks old child, suggestively named, Devansh ( God-graced), the son of the Yuvaraja was presented to the Mahanadu, signalling the Emergence of a Dynasty ( in the likeness of Motilal Nehru - Jawaharlal Nehru - Indira (Gandhi?), Rajiv Gandhi – dowager mother Sonia - Rahul...?)
· The leader is unabashedly and stridently saying, “ I developed Hyderabad, I created the wealth ...” There is no credit given to either the party or any of his senior colleagues. Everything is I, and after me “my ....”. The current advisers and power wielders are not those who grew up with the party but those who made lot of money in some way or the other and are able to fiancé the party. The capital project and Singapore will ensure good returns on their investment in the party. (1,346 words)
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