Two Isn’t Company

Guffaws greet Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhara Rao when he taunts his Andhra Pradesh counterpart for hanging around Hyderabad. “You have 13 districts and we have just 10. You have such a large state from Srikakulam to Anantapur to govern. You have plenty of work to do. Why hang around in Hyderabad? Auron ki shaadi mei Abdullah begaana?”  Chand­rababu Naidu, he never tires of saying, ought to mind his own state rather than interfere in an “infant Telangana”.

India’s 29th state Telangana celebrated its first anniversary in June. But even after a year, relations between the two Telugu-speaking states are frosty at best. The phone-tapping incident (Andhra CM Naidu accused the Telangana government of tapping phones of AP ministers, bureaucrats in Hyderabad), could have snowballed into a serious law and order issue in both states, warns Pawan Kalyan, actor and Jana Sena Party chief, a “civil war start between the two states”. Naidu has been insisting that Section 8 of the AP Reorganisation Act, which makes the governor responsible for internal security, law and order in Hyderabad etc, be implemented in letter and spirit.

Congress spokesman Sravan Dasoju is even more dramatic, blaming the populist politics of Naidu and KCR for creating an Indo-Pak kind of enmity among the people. Accusing both of consistently raising non-issues like division of assets, employees etc, he says these issues could have been easily sorted out across the table. But both CMs keep raising regional sentiments to gloss over their failure in fulfilling electoral promises.

Sanjaya Baru, honorary research fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi, agrees that “there‘s been avoidable political confrontation between the two CMs and that one-upmanship is unwarranted”  but points out that life in Hyderabad is almost surprisingly normal but for the disarray in governmental departments. “And this is primarily to be blamed on loopholes in the Andhra Pradesh Reorg­anisation Act, 2014,” he says. 

One thing all observers agree is that both KCR and Naidu face uphill battles ahead. While KCR has to live up to the heightened expectations of the people on social justice and employment, Naidu has to contend with losing the “coveted child”, Hyderabad, building a new capital region and finding funds to engineer infrastructure and industry in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. His biggest task, of course, is to lift the sagging spirits of the Seemandhra people who feel shortchanged by the bifurcation.

Godspeed... KCR takes a holy dip at the Godavari Maha Pushkaralu, July 14. (Photograph by P. Anil Kumar)

KCR is often accused of ignoring bread-and-butter issues. Issues like education and health, strengthening tribal schools, aid to Dalit students etc have been ign­o­red in Telangana, say Congress lea­ders like M.A. Shabbir, Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Sravan Dasoju. “The representation of BCs, SCs, STs in the cabinet is minimal and most cabinet ministers appear to be mere rubber stamps,” they allege (a majority of the state’s population comprise BCs, SCs and STs while KCR belongs to the upper class Velama caste). “Naidu too has a huge task facing him, that of reconstruction. But all his energies seem to be spent on capital construction and fighting with KCR,” complains Dasoju.

There are others who feel the excessive attachment to ex-capital Hyderabad that Andhra leaders have is doing the state a lot of harm. Ex-CII chairman of united Andhra Pradesh, Y. Harish Chandra Prasad, says Andhra “has abundant elec­tr­icity, skill structures, a traditional base of entrepreneurship, infrastructure, four airports, ports, a 970-km coastline, land availability. Japanese investors are coming to AP in a major way, we have a PCPIR petroleum, chemicals and petrochemical investment region from Visakhapatnam-Kakinada (logistics, auto and agricultural hub), manufacturing hubs at Nellore, Kadapa and Chittoor. There is a propo­sed Machilipatnam-Vijayawada-Hyder­a­­bad capital corridor (Telangana can then use the Machilipatnam port). In psus alone, Andhra has Rs 3 lakh crore investments. So why are my leaders still bothered about Hyderabad when we have a golden opportunity to develop Andhra Pradesh?” asks Prasad. “It has been one year and all the politicians are still in Hyderabad. All the leaders, non-gazetted officers and bureaucrats must move to AP. I am surprised the media does not question this,” he adds.

The former CII head says that in the 11th Plan, growth in the combined state of Andhra Pradesh was 12 per cent, while growth in districts like Visakhapatnam was 7 per cent, Krishna 4 per cent and Chittoor 3 per cent. This meant that Hyderabad (including the surrounding Ranga Reddy and Medak districts) alone was growing, at 20 per cent. So where was the real growth?

Prof D.V.R. Murthy of Andhra Univ­er­sity, Vizag, says the people of AP are a dejected lot because apart from all the “capital talk”, there is nothing else happ­e­ning. “There are no new government jobs, the promised north Andhra pac­k­age too has not worked out,” says Murthy.

The city of Hyderabad, meanwhile, has seen a lot of activity primarily in the areas of IT, pharma and consumables. Since real estate here is still more reasonably priced compared to other cities, it is still a favoured investment destination. Ram­esh Loganathan, president of the Hyder­abad Software Enterprises Asso­c­iation, is all praise for the KCR government. “The first year of Telangana has been fantastic. The fact that No. 2 in the Telangana government (K.T. Rama Rao) is IT minister is reassuring for us,” he says. He points to good news like no power cuts in summer and the “aggressive focus” on sectors like aerospace and ESDM (electr­onic system design and manufacturing).

Filmmaker and cultural champion of Telangana, B. Narsing Rao (director of Daasi, Matti Manushulu), says there is a positive vibe among the artist commun­ity too. “NTR had abolished all the academies, merging them into the Telugu University. This had affected Telangana badly. But now, the government with plans for a Telangana Kalabharati (at a cost of Rs 110 crore) is heralding a cultural revival,” says an enthused Narsing Rao.