By Oracle
Does criticizing N Chandrababu Naidu amount to criticizing people belonging to Andhra?
Definitely not.
If the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), its Telangana unit and Chandrababu Naidu and his media cronies want to dub it that way, they are grossly mistaken. By the same measure, can criticism of KCR be taken as cursing of Telangana people?
The migrant population from Andhra, especially the settlers in Hyderabad and other Telangana districts, have had the most comfortable time ever since K Chandrashekar Rao took over the reins of the newly formed State of Telangana in June 2014.
Here are the five reasons why Andhra settlers, who extended their wholehearted support to the TRS in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections, are likely to go with the TRS even in the upcoming elections.
KCR has launched the TRS by resigning from the Telugu Desam Party’s primary membership, the post of Deputy Speaker and the post of MLA from Siddipet in April 2001. He strongly criticized Chandrababu Naidu and his anti-people policies in general and his apathy for Telangana in particular. Had Naidu been taking care of all regions equally and serving people of the State uniformly, KCR would not have had the need to launch an agitation. So, it all began with Chandrababu Naidu’s “misrule”. So, criticising him cannot be construed as criticism of Andhra settlers.
Soon after the announcement of carving out a separate State came out and the process began, KCR ensured that there was not even a single instance of targeting Andhra settlers. He had sent clear instructions to the rank and file of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi that the people of Telangana were not opposed to people of Andhra. The formation of Telangana was the first step in emancipation of people (of all regions living in Telangana territory) from the misrule of Andhra politicians.
KCR, soon after assuming office as the Chief Minister, silently ensured that the confidence of the people living in Hyderabad soared in his leadership and that they felt safe and secured without an iota of apprehension. The TRS Government has ensured that the law and order has been maintained so well that the confidence among all sections of people has been instilled about their safety.
The focus of the TRS Government on development and industrialization, opening up of opportunities to new businesses, ushering in world class IT majors like Apple, Amazon, Google, ZF, Uber, and many others have all been measures that have a telling effect on people that the TRS Government doesn’t discriminate against its denizens based on their caste, creed, religion, region or sex. The businesses only expanded, scoffing off the TDP-sponsored speculation that thousands of companies would migrate from Hyderabad to Andhra. This was perhaps the biggest ever joke that has done rounds after the bifurcation of the State. On the other hand, new investors have come from Andhra and begun participating in the development and infrastructure activities in Hyderabad and rest of the State.
Ever since he launched the TRS, KCR’s goal has always been to achieve a separate Telangana and work for the betterment of lives of people living in the region. As the Congress had promised a separate State of Telangana, he joined hands with the Grand Old Party and contested 2004 elections in alliance with them. As he realized the deceptive politics of the Congress, he reconciled to join hands with Chandrababu Naidu-led “Mahakutami” (grand alliance) in 2009 elections. He understood the machinations of the TD even before the poll results were announced and parted ways. From then on, KCR worked hard for the creation of a separate Telangana and achieved it by leaving the Congress-led UPA Government with no other option but to yield to his pressure.
Therefore, Andhra settlers strongly feel that criticism of Naidu is not in any which way deriding or demeaning them. The Chief Minister, time and again, clarified that everyone living in Hyderabad is a Hyderabadi and everybody residing in Telangana is a Telanganaite. He went to the extent of offering to “remove the thorn stuck in the foot of my Andhra brethren with my tooth.”
After all, Chandrababu Naidu has won the Andhra elections in 2014 with the support of the BJP and Narendra Modi’s charisma at that time and movie glamour of Pawan Kalyan and a no-holds-barred support of his “crony media”. With all this, he scraped through with a niggardly majority of 1.95 percent of vote against his nearest rival.