Revanth addressed stability concerns, but must now showcase his ability

Hyderabad: A few days after he took charge as the Chief Minister of Telangana in December last year, the Opposition unleashed a bogey that the first Congress government in the state would not last longer than a few months.

Different doubts were raised — that the former chief minister and BRS boss K. Chandrashekar Rao was going to have several Congress legislator defect and bring down the A. Revanth Reddy government, and resume power again. The BJP too indicated through different hints that it would either watch such a coup by the pink party silently, or even condone it by default with its own eight legislators, or even push a hand once the Narendra Modi government returned at the Centre with a thumping majority.

Meanwhile, the Congress government, besides allaying all fears of internal dissent breaking out, could turn the tables on the BRS, after they were reduced to a naught in Lok Sabha elections, by constantly tugging away at its bench strength in other houses — State Assembly, Legislative Council, even the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP — which won the same number of seats as the Congress in the Lok Sabha — eight — however, is not sure of the route to take in the state. While it might feel intuitive for the saffron party that it would only gain at the cost of the BRS, and therefore, it must weaken the pink party both by commission and omission, it knows there are limits to such strategies.

With the AIMIM now more or less saddled with the Congress, even if they are not formal alliance partners, four years down the line, it might have to face a coalition of the BJP-BRS at the state elections. In such a scenario, it is not clear how the BJP will respond to the continually weakening of the BRS — will it take away some of their MLAs, and other leaders — or just watch the BRS go down passively — or actually support the plummeting fortunes of Chandrashekhar Rao and help him?

But for the Congress — which has lost seven months after the polls — only trying to address the issue of stability, which it now has, by turning the table around and pushing the BRS to answer existential queries — and to which the model code of conduct for the general elections added – must now make up for the lost time and showcase its ability to govern.

There are several questions abound amongst the people about the Congress regime. Can the Chief Minister and his Cabinet keep a firm grip on the bureaucracy and officials and deliver solid economic growth for the state? Will they be able to deliver on all welfare promises without bankrupting the state?

Will Hyderabad grow as a city, with more investments, domestic and foreign flowing in? Will real estate prices go north, or remain stagnant, or even dive south? Will development and urban focus become priorities for the Revanth Reddy government?, especially after a rejection of a rural only, welfare only track record of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh?

Only the next few months will reveal how the government shapes to answer some of these questions, but there is no doubt that it has to now convince people that it has the ability to deliver.