'Operation Aakarsh’ sets off ripples in Telangana politics

The term ‘Operation Aakarsh’ was made popular by the then Chief Minister of the united Andhra Pradesh the late YS Rajasekhar Reddy. It was meant to lure the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislators into the Congress fold during his tenure between 2004 and 2009. Since then, the expression has been part of the political lexicon of the Telugu states of Telangana and AP.

It is now the turn of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to replicate the strategy to attract the opposition Congress and the TDP into the ruling TRS camp. In the run-up to the December 2018 Assembly elections, KCR used to predict ‘100 plus’ seats for his party in the 119-member Assembly. He did secure a second term with a resounding mandate. With 88 seats in its kitty, the TRS, however, fell short of the target it had set for itself. Soon after the declaration of the results, two independents had switched over to the ruling party.

With the elections to the state legislative council less than a week away, the season of political migrations appears to have set in. Two Congress MLAs and a TDP legislator have crossed over to the TRS, triggering allegations of inducements.

Gloom in opposition camp

An already demoralised opposition camp has suffered further humiliation following the latest desertions. The two tribal Congress MLAs, Athram Sakku and R Kantha Rao, defected to the TRS amid allegations that huge money had changed hands. “We have joined the TRS in the interest of development of our region. It is shameful for the Congress to say that we were sold out to the TRS. These statements damage the self-respect of Adivasis,” the two MLAs said in a joint statement.

With the latest defections, the Congress’ tally in the Assembly has come down to 17. Earlier, four of its legislative council members (MLCs) had defected to the TRS.

In a strange twist, the two legislators accused the Congress of offering them a bribe of Rs 50 lakh each to remain in the party and vote for the official nominee in the March 12 MLC elections.

Of the five vacant MLC positions for which the elections are being held, the TRS has fielded four candidates while supporting its ally All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) for the remaining seat.

TRS had swept the December Assembly polls by winning 88 out of 119 seats. Congress bagged 19 seats, the AIMIM 7, and the TDP 2. The BJP, the Forward Bloc and independents won one seat each. With the independent and Forward Bloc MLAs shifting loyalties to it, TRS improved its tally to 90 within a week of the results being announced.

TRS and its ally AIMIM together have a strength of 97 in the Assembly now and they need 105 votes for all the five of their candidates to win the MLC  elections. With the addition of two Congress MLAs and a TDP MLA, the combined strength has now touched 100, requiring five more votes for first priority win.

The TRS’ move to field a fifth candidate without having the required numbers has evoked criticism from the opposition. “The TRS is resorting to unruly political poaching, which is detrimental to democracy,” said AICC spokesperson Sravan Dasoju said. The Congress is planning to move the high court, seeking disqualification of turncoat legislators.

Rahul to address rally

In this gloomy backdrop, the Congress president Rahul Gandhi is visiting Hyderabad on March 9 to address a party rally on the city outskirts. There is expectation in the party circles that he might elaborate on the party’s promise of minimum income guarantee scheme. Rahul had made the announcement in Bhubaneshwar last month that his party, if voted to power in the coming elections, would implement the scheme. However, the party has still not elaborated on how it would implement the promise.

The Telangana Congress leaders say that Rahul would use the March 9 rally at Pahadi Sharif in the city to elaborate on the party’s plan to implement the minimum income guarantee scheme.