The following article was written for Niti Central. Pasting it here for reference.
“There is no link between the bifurcation process and Anthony panel.”
No, this is not some random protester blurting on the street. This is also not an armchair journalist analysing the events of the day. This statement came from none other than the president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee Botcha Satyanarayana himself on Friday.
All the newspapers have carried news of this prominently today. It is just a matter of time before Satyanarayana issues a random clarification that he was “misquoted”. Anyways, he told this to all the Telangana ministers who have visited him to know the modalities of the Anthony committee. The double tounged nature of Mr. Botcha, though baffling, is not new to the people of Andhra Pradesh.
This same man — who signed a resolution, along with the Chief Minister and 80 other public representatives, urging the high command to reconsider the splitting of the State — on another day rushes to New Delhi to meet Digvijay Singh on the modalities of the Anthony Committee and tells us that Anthony committee will listen to all and sundry. He then comes back and meets Telangana Ministers and tells them that Anthony committee is useless!
The PCC chief is obviously not working in isolation. He is just the tip of the iceberg — a sign of the chicanery that the Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi, is trying to impose on the people of the State. If the Anthony committee has nothing to do with the process, why on earth are we supposed to waste time on it? Some Seemandhra leaders (only members of the Union Cabinet) met and apparently submitted their views on the prevailing situation in the region. Digvijay Singh told us that the committee was sympathetic to their views. Symphathetic? The entire region is burning and all we get is sympathy?
It definitely looks like the cat is out of the bag. The Anthony Committee will have little or no relevance in the larger scheme of things. The Anthony committee, instead of coming to Hyderabad, has the gall to order leaders to come to New Delhi. Digvijay Singh has the gall to say that though this is a Congress-only committee, everyone is free to send representations to it. Which self-respecting political formation will do so? Digvijay Singh also said that he personally doesn’t see the need for a separate Government committee because this awesome Anthony Committee will take care of everything. The depths of stupidity to which the Congress can plunge really has no limits.
Today is Day 18. Seemandhra is still shut and is burning. The situation is getting worse by the day (for a list of units shut down, please read Day 15 update here.
Counselling for engineering students was supposed to begin on the August 19. With employees on strike, it looks like this will not happen. The Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association has announced an action plan for strikes and rallies from the August 19. There is extreme pressure on private buses and taxis to also stop plying. The Tirupati-Tirumala road is expected to see no traffic today at all
In the middle of all this, except for rhetoric, we are yet to hear any concrete assurances or proposals from the powers that be. After his Press conference on Day 9, the Chief Minister has pretty much gone into radio silence. Even his August 15 speech had no takers with newspapers relegating it to inside pages. Such a pity!
0 comments:
Post a Comment