The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Telangana won a high of eight seats in the Assembly elections held in December and repeated the feat in Parliament elections in June by winning an equal number of MP seats, giving the ruling Congress a scare.
Two months down the road, it is increasingly becoming clear that there is no tango between the party and the elected representatives. It is more pronounced in the case of MLAs. While it was evident during the recent Budget session, it became more prominent when none of them attended a recent party meeting presided over by party State president and Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy.
The party MLAs are T. Raja Singh (Goshamahal), K. Venkataramana Reddy (Kamareddy), A. Maheshwar Reddy (Nirmal), Dr. P. Harish Babu (Sirpur), Ram Rao Patil (Mudhole), Payal Shankar (Adilabad), P. Rakesh Reddy (Armur) and D. Suryanarayana (Nizamabad-Rural).
If some MLAs excused themselves for not being in the city or being out on a pilgrimage, some did not bother to attend claiming a proper invitation was not received. So there was a situation where legislature party leader A. Maheshwar Reddy held a press conferences on the Assembly premises and around the same time, his colleague MLAs were holding forth in the State office.
Except during the Assembly proceedings the MLAs project a divided house with Mr. Raja Singh totally out of the picture having been snubbed – he has been denied the party leader post though he is a three-time MLA. The other day, Kamareddy MLA K. Venkataramana Reddy was fielded to criticise Hyderabad Disaster Management and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) for demolitions on illegal constructions on water bodies.
This is when top leaders including Mr. Kishan Reddy (Secunderabad) hail from the capital region and three other MPs – Eatala Rajender (Malkajgiri), M. Raghunandan Rao (Medak) and Konda Viweshwar Reddy (Chevella). Later, Mr. Kishan Reddy told the Delhi media that the officials were responsible for allowing encroachments on lake beds while Mr. Rao supported the demolitions during a press meet here.
“There is lack of coordination between the MLAs and the party. It is because most of them hail from other parties or are newcomers so the assimilation into the party has not happened. High-handedness of the legislature party leader has become a headache to the party president. We are trying to sort it out and two senior leaders have been given the task,” admitted a senior leader, pleading anonymity.
The problem also is Mr. Kishan Reddy is busy with his ministerial and other responsibilities like being in charge of Jammu & Kashmir. Moreover, he does not seem to be interested involved in the nitty-gritty leaving it to the traditional party leaders to sort it out. But that is easier said than done.
“Since they are elected, MLAs have an ego problem. They are neither amenable to our advice nor do they bother to inform us,” points out another leader. “There is no doubt we need to scale up our work to become an effective Opposition voice. We are discussing with the party to give us necessary infrastructure support,” said an MLA, wishing to remain unidentified.
