Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) is not a household name outside Andhra Pradesh. At least not yet. But these days, his voice is not something that can be ignored easily. The champion of the Telangana cause is camping in Delhi trying to shake up the political tree and, though he has met with only moderate success thus far, he is about to bring more intensity to his fight.
The Telangana struggle for a separate statehood has been going on for 50 years. During the 1970s, the struggle lasted for nearly a year, but failed to cut any ice. The agitation raised its head subsequently, too, but this time the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) headed by KCR seems to be going for a result. The Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) has said that if the process for the formation of a separate Telangana does not begin soon, it would start a peaceful non-cooperation movement until their demands are fulfilled.
Patience has started to wear thin among Telangana agitators and KCR has to show his leadership mettle now. Telangana backers have been on a rampage of late, and the police are having a tough time controlling them. Power supply has been severely effected and industries are closed. There is a severe constraint in supply of power to all categories of consumers due to a shortage of coal supplies to coal-based thermal power plants. Although it is a festive season, the Telangana region shows no signs of it. Public transportation is in disarray and national highways have been blocked. The government is spending around R600 crore towards additional purchases to meet the demand, both for domestic users and to save the standing kharif crops. The situation is grave.
KCR is still hoping to get a festival gift? a new Telangana state?but it may not be that easy. KCR is the pillar of the whole movement, but observers say that he is losing control. His supporters deny this, as he is said to be a man of patience. He was first elected as MLA in 1985 from a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ticket and served as the Cabinet minister. He then served as deputy Speaker until he resigned from the party due to differences with the then chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. Later, he formed TRS for the cause of Telangana as a separate state. TRS subsequently became part of the UPA-coalition government led by the Congress and they fought the 2004 general elections together. But KCR had to go his own way when the government started dithering on its decision on Telangana.
The next few weeks will test KCR?s large reservoir of patience, for UPA bosses are not known to offer anything on a platter. Maybe there are just a few hurdles for him to get by, or maybe there are more hurdles in his path than he has time for. Watch this space.