Is Jagan set to meet KCR’s fate?

Andhra Pradesh is first in alphabetical order and is also, perhaps, the one and only state in the country which is witnessing all kinds of ‘Rajneeti.’ If we go through the epics, we see the best of Rajneeti during the reign of Lord Rama who is believed to have lived during the Treta Yuga about 18 million years ago, the seventh Great Age. The Treta Yuga is believed to have ended 1,296,000 years ago. Lord Rama had come to be known as a symbol of Maryada Purushottam.

During this period, a great scholar, one who had mastered all the Vedas and was a powerful king and came to be known as Ravana Brahma, a great devotee of lord Shiva, lost his brothers and finally his life, too, just because of his lust for Sita.

Treta Yuga was followed by Dwapar Yuga when Lord Krishna was born. We had seen a different kind of ‘Rajneeti’ during that period when there was an intense family-cum-political rivalry between Kauravas and Pandavas, insult was meted out to Draupadi. We learnt how the ego of king Duryodhana led to the war of Mahabharata and the Kaurava kingdom came to an end.

In Kaliyuga, many kings lost their kingdoms because of their ego and unleashing of atrocities on the common man. We had also seen the Rajneeti of British era which was ‘divide and rule’ policy and how they had to quit Bharat. In the last 75 years, we have been witnessing an Indianised version of divide-and-rule and policy of appeasement in the name of democracy by successive governments.

But what Andhra Pradesh had witnessed in the last 10 years is, perhaps, the outcome of a mix of all these Rajneetis from Treta Yug to date. Soon after bifurcation of the state, the TDP and the BJP formed a political alliance and it was supported by Janasena. The alliance worked well for about four years but wrong calculations, wrong feedback, and a joint attack by some self-centered and self-styled intellectuals led to the TDP going against the BJP; the alliance collapsed and the government fell.

The successor YSRCP government began with a bang and its first act was demolition of Praja Vedika which was a temporary building to hold official meetings, saying that this should serve as warning to all those who had grabbed land illegally. But then the YSRCP went ahead with its new concept of having three capitals, citing the example of Pretoria, Cape Town, and Bloemfontein in South Africa, serving as executive, legislative and judicial capitals. This led to massive protests from those who gave their lands for the capital city of Amaravati, but the government went ahead with its decision of three capitals. It also started earning infamy as the government facing the highest number of cases in various courts.

It appeared that the YSRCP was in full control of things and was moving fast in implementing all its promises called ‘Navaratnalu’. The Chief Minister, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, at every meeting and in the Assembly claimed that at the mere touch of a button money was being transferred into the accounts of the beneficiaries, In fact, the way the government moved, it appeared that the even the opposition TDP, which was almost decimated, was becoming helpless and losing ground.

The YSRCP government also earned the distinction of having the highest number of advisors. The state also started seeing a new style of governance where no political meetings were being permitted. The police had been cracking down on party activists and no protests were permitted. There was another phase where Telugu medium was replaced with English medium on the grounds that students need to be made ready to face any global competition. The ruling party accused the opposition of obstructing all such progressive moves.

But then slowly the political situation started changing in the state. Development had taken a back seat. Things went to an extent where the government started filing cases against political opponents and finally, the government arrested the Leader of Opposition and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu in the alleged skill development scam.

This led to some quick political developments such as Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan announcing alliance with TDP and he played the role of cupid in firming up the alliance among the TDP, the BJP and the Janasena. Political predictions are made by all surveys that the new alliance would come to power in 2024 elections.

Let’s take a look at what happened in Telangana. For 10 years, the TRS which later got converted into BRS had its say. First five years, the ‘T’ sentiment kept it alive. In the second term, people thought that all the dreams and aspirations of the separate agitation would be realised. The BRS party created an impression that it was doing wonders by constructing major projects such as Kaleshwaram in a record time - something which the ruling parties in the undivided state failed to achieve. As in Andhra Pradesh, here, too, there was no connect of the Chief Minister with the media, the general public or even the legislators. He would meet them only when he wanted and the model of governance was, “Listen to what I have to say, and don’t ask any questions!”

The pink party left no stone unturned to decimate the opposition. The TDP legislature party was merged with TRS. Many Congress MLAs also were poached. Later, KCR’s daughter K Kavitha was alleged to be involved in Delhi liquor scam which after several twists resulted in her arrest on Friday.

Both states witnessed a language which was never used by any of the earlier politicians, whether it be in Andhra Pradesh or Telangana. The ruling party leaders in both Telugu states used the worst kind of abuses and vulgar language and their ego was at its peak.

All this led to the fall of the pink party. The Congress party which came to power is now in the process of ordering probes into many issues like Kaleshwaram project and irregularities in Outer Ring Road. Serious efforts to poach all BRS MLAs, one after another, are being made. The main reason is to save the government from any eventuality that may take place after the Lok Sabha polls are over. Speculations are doing the rounds that the Revanth government may face political turmoil.

As the BRS is struggling to save itself from extinction, the BJP which so far has been facing the charge of being hand in glove with BRS seems to believe the time is ripe for it to emerge as the main opposition in Telangana and improve its score in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. Perhaps, the speed with which the ED acted on Friday is a pointer to this move. The BJP seems to send a clear message that it believes in zero tolerance towards scams and corruption. Interestingly, the arrest took place on the day when Modi was holding a road show in Hyderabad.

Well, if one considers all these issues, the key point that becomes apparent is that when people in power turn egoistic, the downfall begins. This was proved in all Yugas and we are again seeing a repeat of it now in the two Telugu states.