Digvijaya leads Cong charge against Telangana govt, TRS first family

‘Provoke and pressurise’ seems to the Congress’ strategy against Telangana’s ruling TRS and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s family.

And Digvijaya Singh, the Congress’ General Secretary in charge of the State, has been leading the party’s charge.

Be it the Hyderabad-Miyapur land scam, the issue of the Telangana Police allegedly setting up a fake ISIS recruitment cell, or the ongoing drugs case that has rocked Tollywood, Digvijaya has been quick on the draw, blaming it on the State government and dragging the TRS’ first family into it.

The Congress is the only Opposition worth its name left in Telangana, with the party having a strength of 12 legislators (down from 21) in the 119-member State Assembly. It is desperately trying to get its act together and challenge the TRS government in the 2019 elections.

In the latest episode, Digvijaya alleged that influential friends of the ‘TRS heir apparent’ (read KCR’s son and State Minister KT Rama Rao) were involved in the drug scandal. “Let’s see if they would be saved or prosecuted,” he tweeted.

In response, KTR said: “You’ve completely lost it sir. Time to retire gracefully & do something worth your age. Glad that you’ve finally learnt to spell ‘Telangana’.”

When the multi-crore land scam in prime areas of the city surfaced, Digvijaya had alleged the involvement of KTR and other TRS leaders.

The present phase of provocative politics began in May when Digvijaya came up with startling statements that the Telangana police were radicalising Muslim youth and encouraging them into ISIS modules. He questioned whether the Chief Minister had authorised the police to play a role. To buttress his argument, the Congress leader claimed that the Madhya Pradesh Police had arrested those accused in a train bomb blast in a train in Shajapur district of MP based on the information provided by the Telangana police.

In the war of words that erupted KTR termed the accusation as “Most irresponsible and reprehensible. Demanding evidence or withdrawal of the comments unconditionally, KTR threatened with defamation case”. The Hyderabad police went ahead and filed a case against Digvijaya based on a complaint by legislator Maganti Gopinath.

The genesis for the ‘blow hot, blow cold’ relations between the Congress-TRS goes back to the days of undivided Andhra Pradesh, from which Telangana was to be carved out. Digvijaya, along with Jairam Ramesh, were key players in the phase leading up to bifurcation. Digvijaya worked on the much-publicised merger of the TRS with Congress which was to take place after the elections in 2014.

The Congress now claims that KCR had gone back on his word about the merger. According to reports, while KCR wanted to become Telangana’s Chief Minister, Digvijaya reportedly said there were several contenders from the Congress. As is history now, the Congress was battered in the 2014 polls, despite having a major hand in creating the new State.

Therefore, embarrassing the KCR family, the TRS government and raising controversial issues that could help revive its fortunes in the State seem to top the Congress’ agenda. The Grand Old Party requires to put up a strong challenge and leadership to take on KCR and raise issues that catch the voter’s imagination and favour in 2019.

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