Obsession with Naidu intriguing

‘Kitne Admi The’ growls Gabbar Singh in the movie Sholay. ‘Sarkar! Do!’, replies one of his cronies rather meekly. The scene is typical of the theme of Sholay and Amjad Khan as an artist essaying the role of a heartless dacoit - so much so it left a lasting impression on the minds of the audiences. 

I am reminded of this scene on seeing KCR and his son KTR frequently refer to Chandra Babu Naidu in their election speeches.  In your editorial today (22nd November), you have precisely placed these prospects before the readers and I must convey my appreciation to you for this.

It is obvious that CBN has become a bête noire and a nightmare of sorts for these two  stalwarts of TRS. The duo are not only scared themselves of CBN but are also  projecting him before the electorate as a monster and a snatcher of their dreams of golden Telangana. 

If one were to believe the duo, division of the High Court will usher in a golden era for every household in Telangana. They can sleep better after this. If water has not reached every home in Telangana by now, they say, it’s because CBN has somehow stopped Bhagirathi in her tracks - a circumstance even King Bhagiratha would find it hard to explain. 

If the two-bedroom houses have eluded the beneficiaries, it is because CBN somehow colluded with Vishwakarma to frustrate the pious attempts of the TRS government. 

The electorate, therefore, have sufficient reason to ‘drive away’ CBN to establish the kingdom of their dreams. The KCR and son duo also scare the audiences with the strange theory that the ‘hard-won power’ (read 24 -hour electricity) will dry up from its source in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh if CBN-Congress dyad is allowed to win in the December polls. 

They conveniently avoid telling farmers, however, that using the electricity 24/7 is already depleting the groundwater in Telangana to dangerously low levels and that it is such overdrawing of electricity/ groundwater, not CBN, that will bring back the ‘dark’ days of power-rationing in the days to come. - Maringanti, Secunderabad