Swords drawn as Modi-KCR head for a face-off in Telangana

In 2015, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) conducted a five-day ritual, ‘Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagam’, at his sprawling Erravalli farmhouse.

Prominent among those who attended the event were then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, former Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, then union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Bandaru Dattatreya.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not attend so he wrote a letter to K Chandrasekhar Rao conveying his best wishes upon successful completion of the spiritual fete.

The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) could not hide Rao’s anxiety and released a note: “Prime Minister conveyed his best wishes for the success of Ayutha Chandi Mahayagam and expressed hope that this thoughtful initiative will foster spiritual welfare of all souls by spreading the message of Lok Kalyan and Vishwa Shanti.”

Those were the days when Rao and Modi had respect for each other. While PM Modi wanted Rao’s cooperation in his ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ mission, KCR expected liberal central assistance to the newly-born state.

A notion that BJP would never rear its head in the battle-hardened Telangana was all-pervasive. Telangana BJP was too insignificant a force to rub KCR on the wrong side. And BJP emerging as an alternative to KCR’s TRS in Telangana sounded nothing more than a joke. Both sides pursued a policy of ‘live and let live’.

Things, however, have taken a dramatic turn in the recent past. On February 9, 2022, Telangana was reverberating with ‘Modi down down’ chants and a Twitter handle @ModiEnemyOfTelangana was trending.

Cabinet ministers, MLAs and MPs were leading bike rallies and black-flag demonstrations in all constituencies. PM Modi’s effigies were burned at every junction in the state, followed by mock funeral processions. The ruling party was reacting to PM Modi’s comments on the way the Telangana bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in 2014, “closing the doors amid pepper spray by the Congress members”.

The PM said that both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were unable to recover from the crude manner in which the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated. Modi’s statement infuriated KCR, who gave a call for protests all over the state. This attack on PM Modi was not an isolated one but part of a chain of events.

Following recent gains in Telangana by-elections, the BJP started projecting itself as the alternative to KCR and this has convinced the central leadership that it is time to encourage state leaders to embarrass KCR.

Added to this was the poor response from the non-BJP chief ministers to KCR’s Federal Front idea. Even Bihar RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav’s meeting with KCR at Hyderabad could not become a great media event good enough to unnerve the BJP. In the earlier times, a Delhi visit by KCR was enough to curb the over-enthusiasm of state BJP leaders. This clearly looks like a thing of the past now.

A sympathizer of TRS aptly summarised these developments as the end of the ‘live and let live’ policy.

“TRS cannot hope to revive the policy. The party has to prepare the people for the 2023 Assembly elections and it needs to show a new enemy of Telangana in the run-up. It has begun in right earnest with KCR skipping the PM’s visit,” he said on condition of anonymity. The Twitter handle @ModiEnemyOfTelangana is indicative of KCR’s mood, he added.

Why did KCR skip PM’s visit?

In normal circumstances, the TRS would have ignored the PM’s anti-Telangana remarks with a statement or an odd demonstration. But the PM’s remarks came at a time when the state was witness to an open confrontation between TRS and BJP leaders.

For the past several days, the state BJP has been unusually aggressive against the KCR government. BJP state president Sanjay Kumar, who is known to use abusive language, has been attracting huge crowds. He has been touring every district to meet families of those farmers who committed suicide. Kumar is interacting with students and unemployed youths as well. The saffron party is planning a ‘Million March’ with unemployed youths to the Assembly during the upcoming State Budget session. The march was planned to press for the release of assured unemployed youth allowance, job notifications, etc. Similarly, the party has asked its local committees to step up anti-government activities in every district. SC, ST, OBC, Women, farmers’ wings have been given action plans to work upon.

Against this backdrop, came K Chandrasekhar Rao’s statement on the need to rewrite the Constitution of India. BJP exploited the statement to the hilt by organizing rallies stating that “KCR has plans to scrap Dr BR Ambedkar’s gift to the nation”.

In retaliation, a week ago the CM called a press conference to abuse the BJP and the BJP leadership from PM Modi to Sanjay Kumar.

For the first time since 2001, when TRS was launched, a “small party” led by a band of first-time MPs and MLAs has become a nagging pain for K CR.

The PM’s Hyderabad visit to unveil the 216-ft statue of Saint Ramanujacharya, christened ‘Statue of Equality’, happened amid this rather unpleasant situation last Saturday.

The statue, unveiled on the occasion of 1000th birth anniversary of the saint, is located in a huge temple complex near Shamshabad airport. The project cost Rs 1,000 crore.

Rao, true to his nature, chose to express his displeasure over the unleashing of BJP in Telangana by skipping the PM’s visit feigning ill-health. He authorized Animal Husbandary Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav to be the minister-in-waiting for the visit.

BJP cried foul and launched a scathing campaign stating that skipping PM’s visit is nothing but “insulting the nation”.

The PM’s latest anti-bifurcation stand taken in the Rajya Sabha has provided the battered TRS with an opportunity to lash out at Modi with protests across Telangana.

How BJP got emboldened to take on KCR

The BJP had nothing to talk about in Telangana in 2015, but now it finds itself in a congenial atmosphere amid growing disenchantment among many sections with the TRS government.

According to Professor Karli Srinivasulu, a senior fellow at ICSSR, New Delhi, the changing dynamics of Telangana politics is responsible for the clash between the PM and the CM.

“Given that the TRS has been in power for the second term it is expected to generate anti-establishment mood in the state. The state was formed as a result of a protracted separate state demand movement that raised the expectations among popular classes. But, in fulfilling these expectations, the TRS has clearly fallen short of. Further, there has already been noticeable disenchantment with TRS among certain sections of the society which the BJP hopes to win over by hyping up its political activity. The BJP wants to widen the cleavages in the support base of the TRS by expanding and scaling up the popular discontent,” Prof Srinivasulu said.

The reason behind BJP’s intense campaign against KCR is that Telangana and Andhra are the only states left out for BJP where it can try its luck in south India, added Prof Srinivasulu.

Also read: Upset KCR accuses BJP of fomenting ‘communal tensions’ ahead of polls

Sekhar Rao Perala, BJP’s national leader and party’s once in-charge for the North-East, said that the fight with TRS is real and there could be no going back.

“The TRS government with its failure on many fronts is withering away. This frustration is seen in KCR’s skipping of PM’s visit on the pretext of fever and the language he is employing to attack BJP leaders. Skipping a program connected to one of Hindus’ spiritual guru Saint Ramanuja is no way pardonable,” Sekhar Rao said.

When asked about the possible rapprochement with the Prime Minister, Sekhar Rao said Modi had always been supportive of the Telangana government and it would continue to do so.

“As a party, the BJP will continue to stand by the people of Telangana, who and slowly gravitating towards BJP. This is bound to herald a change soon,” he added.

The intensifying of quarrel between TRS and BJP has cast a shadow on the upcoming consecration of the Yadadri (Yadagiri Gutta) temple in March. KCR had invited PM Modi as chief guest at the inauguration of the new temple which is being looked upon as the “Tirupati of Telangana”.

Also read: KCR’s balancing tactic risks collapse as BJP grows roots in Telangana

The inauguration is scheduled for March 28, 2022.  Though BJP and TRS have so far not commented on PM’s upcoming visit to Yadadri, the CM will have no option but to receive Modi as it is an official function of the Telangana government.

“The differences with CM KCR are one thing and governmental functions are another. We hope the Yadadri program will go on as per the schedule. The CM cannot replay Saturday’s drama,” a BJP leader remarked.

On the other hand, KCR — just a day after skipping PM’s visit to Hyderabad on grounds of ill health — flew to Yadadri to review preparatory works for the temple which was rebuilt at a cost of Rs 1800 crore.