Hyderabad: Telangana state Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy have different views on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government. While Mr Reddy wants to have friendly relations, Mr Rao is in a fighting mood.
It may be recalled that on the last day of the Assembly on Sunday, Mr Rao warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister and BJP national president Amit Shah about their remarks about the state.
On the UPA government granting statehood to Telangana, Mr Modi had said: “They have killed the mother to save the child.” Mr Rao said Mr Modi should stop making such remarks. Mr Shah had remarked that the day Telangana state was formed was a dark day. Mr Shah should change his attitude towards Telangana state,” Mr Rao said.
Mr Rao's attitude is confrontationist, while his AP counterpart's attitude is not. The local political scenario in the two states is shaping their attitudes to the NDA government. In Telangana state, the ruling party has no strong opposition, but the BJP is doing its best to emerge as an alternative to the TRS.
In case of AP government, the YSR Congress led by Mr Reddy has a strong opposition — the Telugu Desam was defeated in the Assembly elections, but it has a strong cadre across the state and the BJP is unlikely to emerge as an alternative to the YSRC.
It is also in the interests of Mr Reddy to be conciliatory in order to achieve his goals. He discusses every important matter with the dual power centres of Mr Modi and Mr Shah. Both Telugu states are in financial trouble and are thus, hamstrung when it comes to implementing many of their election promises. The central government's financial help would be of great use in this situation.
The TS Chief Minister’s hands are tied by the compulsions of the state politics. While he had successfully thrown the Congress into a crisis inside and outside the Assembly, so that the once powerful party is fighting for its very existence in the state, he faces a looming threat from the BJP that is determined to demolish all non-BJP governments in the country. Fighting the BJP in TS is thus inevitable and maintaining cordial relations with its national leadership is not an option.
