AP Congress Victory Means Chicanery Than Chivalry

Andhra Pradesh Chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is trying to put up a brave face. He has more reasons to worry about rather than to bask. His Government slipped into a minority, even though the helmsman of the Congress in the State is making tall claims. He is fully aware of the inner strength of his team of legislators. With a view to putting a veil on the actual numbers, the abstentions by the Opposition and some from the ruling party  came in handy for Kiran Reddy.

But if Chandrababu Naidu were to be determined, Saturday would have seen Kiran Kumar moving into the role of a caretaker Chief Minister and ESL Narasimhan would have been busy and Botcha Satyanarayana gleeing secretly. Kiran owes his job to the TDP. Though the Chief Minister claimed that the party would report to the Speaker on the nine legislators who defied the whip and voted in favour of the no-confidence motion against his Government, he lacks the confidence that he would be able to handle the post-disqualification scenario.

Though he is heavily banking on the technicalities in the Representation of People Act to avoid elections, he is unable to explain why would it take 15 more days for the Congress to prefer a complaint against those who crossed the line.

In talking about the conduct of elections to village panchayats towards the end of April or first week of May, Kiran Kumar Reddy is thinking that it would help the Congress in consolidating its position. Because, these elections are held without any party symbol and winners could be endorsed as the Congress nominees.

Inherently, a sense of diffidence is, however, squirming within the Congress. For, the next round — elections to local bodies,  conducted on party symbols — would expose the strengths of various parties to some extent at the field level.

Though Kiran Reddy went about claiming that the no-confidence motion emboldened him because it clarified as to who had the numbers, the charge of the YSR Congress that Kiran’s palanquin is being borne by the TDP could not be ignored.

If the political leanings of the legislators are gleaned, what gets laid bare is that Kiran Kumar Reddy would have none to follow him by the time the State goes to polls. His claim that a sixth candidate, if fielded on behalf of the Congress, would have been elected is just a boastful rhetoric. For, the TDP could not have helped the Congress, as it was itself falling short of four votes and the MIM would not have offered an olive branch, either.

If Kiran Reddy is under the impression that MIM kowtowed before him and demoed the same through its abstention from voting, he is thoroughly mistaken. The Congress Legislature Party is not bursting at the seams with too many surplus legislators so as to enable the Chief Minister to stamp his feet in assertion.

The MIM played its cards coolly and the step by Asaduddin Owaisi is politically very diligent. The MIM hit two birds at one shot by this — (a) It told the Congress that it could have saved the ruling party from an embarrassment, but for the vindictive approach of the Chief Minister; and (b) It wanted  the YSRC to understand that come what may, the former could not sail with the BJP at any cost. Asaduddin’s dexterous move is to make Delhi understand these politics. They are surely not intended at pleasing Kiran. After all, knowledge is power and ignorance is,of course, a bliss for some time.

The yak indulged in by Kiran Reddy about bringing in Azharuddin as an antidote to MIM too gets slighted with this. Azhar hasn’t passed through the rough and tumble of politics, unlike the Owaisis who know how to manage the Old City politics too well. Leave alone being an antidote, Azhar doesn’t even measure up to be a dietary supplement to the Owaisi brothers. Comparing Azhar with Asad is like drawing a parallel between Kiran and YSR in that order.

Now Kiran Kumar Reddy, the Honourable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, must sit alone and make an effort to delineate between bravery and bravado, chicanery and chivalry.