Telangana party chief plays minority card

Constantly badgered by the Congress for going back on all his promises, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) President K Chandrasekhar Rao got into a fire-fighting mode promising that a minorities’ leader would be made the deputy chief minister of the new state of Telangana if the party came to power.

“Not only will TRS make a leader from the minority community the deputy chief minister, but will also ensure that it gets two to three prominent positions in the state cabinet,” KCR, as the TRS leader is popularly known, said while addressing a series of public meetings in Karminagar district.

The TRS president also reiterated his party’s promise to implement 12 percent reservation for minorities besides giving teeth to the Wakf Board to reclaim its encroached lands. “My Muslim brethren need not have any doubts about the sincerity of the TRS to work for their welfare. The TRS does not believe in divisive politics and will work for the welfare of all section of society,” he said.

The Congress including its central leadership has been persistently targeting KCR for going back on his major promises including merger with the ruling party post-division of Andhra Pradesh and appointing a Scheduled Caste leader as the chief minister and a minorities’ leader as deputy chief minister of the new state.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, in his public meeting in Nizamabad late Monday evening, described KCR as a complete betrayer. “After Telangana became a reality, KCR came, shook hands with me, hugged me and then stabbed the Congress in the back. He will do the same thing with the people of Telangana after making such tall promises,” the Congress leader said.

KCR has been seeking to justify his party’s U-turn on the promise of merger and appointment of an SC as chief minister, claiming that it was the TRS which fought for separate statehood for 14 years and achieved it. “There is nothing wrong in aspiring to form the government since TRS alone fought for Telangana and fulfilled the dreams of 40 million people, and it is now up to it to lead the new state on the path of development,” he argues.

The TRS president, however, had for quite some time remained mum on the charges of going back on his promise to appoint a minorities’ leader as deputy chief minister till he made the announcement in Karimnagar on Monday.

Of the 119 Assembly segments in the new state of Telangana, minorities are in excess of 25,000. Besides, as many as eight Lok Sabha seats have minority voters in excess of 150,000. With such huge chunks of minorities’ votes spread across Telangana, the TRS has been trying to reach out to the minorities.

The TRS president’s move is being seen as a desperate attempt to woo the minority voters following the widespread perception that Muslims all over the country would pitch in for the Congress with the BJP’s Narendra Modi in the race for the prime minister’s post. In Telangana as well as Seemandhra, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which used to command some respect among the minorities, has lost it goodwill among the minorities after striking an alliance with the BJP.