Discrediting BRS or Telangana?
The Congress strategy is double-edged and dangerous too!
Is newbie Revanth Reddy-led Congress government in Telangana, in its relentless and fast-track pursuit of the alleged misdeeds of the erstwhile Bharat Rashtra Samithi government, losing sight of the fine, but significant difference between Telangana State per se and the government of the day? Unfortunately, going by the comments of the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues, complemented by figures that have been nailed through the ‘White Paper’, the new government has laid it on thick that Telangana State is near bankrupt today and that the previous government has left the state in a hopeless situation.
Granting that the state has been weighed down by mounting debts in power and other sectors and the cumulative outgo on debt servicing, will washing dirty linen in public help the new government in any manner to attract new investments or source fresh loans tomorrow? Potential investors might cite the very ‘White Paper’ figures to keep away from Telangana, which, going by Central data, has no doubt achieved significant results in increasing GSDP and per capita income, among other macro indicators.
In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, upon taking over the mantle from Chandrababu Naidu, first went hammer and tongs against the previous government, starting with the cancellation (or revisiting) of PPAs. Has that helped mending matters at least on the power front in AP? Absolutely no. In fact, the Jagan government has to go back on several counts to regain the confidence of the investors.
Similarly, if Revanth begins stock-taking of what has gone wrong in various departments under the previous regime, the net effect will be to trash even documented and proven achievements in Telangana under the BRS government. Settling scores politically is one thing and establishing Telangana as a dysfunctional state is quite another. And, Congress, by its misplaced focus on the latter, in all probability is taking politics to a new level in Telangana. Is it anyway good to the state is the question.
If a Chief Minister (what if he has just taken over?) goes to the town with alarming figures that could scare away potential investors, will the state benefit in the long run? For short-term political brownie points, can Revanth afford to belittle Telangana as a state that has Hyderabad for its capital, ranking among the world’s best cities? What if the tech titans, biotech behemoths and other moneybags take him seriously? Does he want to forestall investments and divert committed ones to say Tamil Nadu or Karnataka? Until recently, TS was the natural choice of those investors who had baulked at going to Karnataka because of the rising communal and other politically sensitive incidents in that state. Another important factor for choosing Hyderabad as their investment destination is the city’s geographical advantage and stable government. These factors will surely influence the minds of big-ticket investors.
The Revanth government has ordered inquiries, including those by sitting judges, inter alia into sinking of Kaleshwaram project’s Medigadda pillars, power purchase agreement with the Chhattisgarh government and deals related to Bhadradri and Yadadri power plants. As of now, the terms of reference of these probes are not clear. Whatever they be, the probes must not damage the credibility of Telangana. Intellectuals and lovers of Telangana are requesting the Congress government not to discredit the youngest state, Telangana, to settle its scores with its political rival Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). Make the BRS ministers accountable for the ‘misappropriation’ if any in the previous regime, but announcing Telangana as bankrupt, debt-ridden, and not in a position to give salaries will certainly not help the new government in its journey to provide good governance in the coming days.
