KCRs 3 U-Turns in one week

 

The following article was written for The Commune. Pasting it here for reference:

The Telangana CM, KCR seems to have taken the electoral reverses he has suffered very seriously. Over the course of this week, he has done multiple U-turns that is currently baffling the crores of people in the state!

The first big U-turn was on Sunday, December 27th.

In a series of tweets released by the Telangana CM’s office, we were told that the government is “not a business entity”. It is “not government’s responsibility to buy and sell”. The tweet thread also told us that the government has incurred a total loss of nearly INR 7500 crores because the government purchased crops at MSP and sold at lower rates. And then we are told that the farmer now has the freedom to sell anywhere he/she wants! We are told that the new central government laws have anyway enabled this option and therefore there is no point in the government continuing to go to their homes and purchasing the same.

KCR and his party leaders have used very acerbic language to describe the new farm laws. KCR supported the alleged Bharat Bandh on December 8th and had his entire cadre participate in the bandh to disrupt normal life of the people. It was important to note that no farmers took part in those protests! Today, farmers are questioning him as to why he so vehemently opposed the laws; why he was so adamant on what crops should be cultivated by them and has now made this big U-turn. We are yet to hear from the CM himself on why his thought process has changed now.

The second big U-turn was on Monday, December 28th.

KCR bought in a very controversial Land Regularization Scheme (LRS) in September. He has also stopped registrations across the entire state of any non-agricultural property for more than three months. He ignored the criticism from many citizens who simply couldn’t register any property despite having all proper documentation. The state government garnered tens of crores of money just from the application fee of Rs.1000/- for the LRS.

On Monday, KCR’s government announced that registrations of “re-sale” plots is now allowed without having to wait for the outcome of the LRS. This basically means that previously registered land plots can now be sold and registered without any further delay. This helped clear a major confusion in the minds of lakhs of people, simply because many were questioning why the government should register the properties in the first place if those properties didn’t have requisite permission!

The second big U-Turn has bought a big relief to the lakhs of citizens across the state. Coupled with the High Court direction to resume registrations for the other non-agricultural properties, the uncertainty that KCR subjected the people for 3 months is finally gone. The LRS still hasn’t been finalized for new plots of non-agricultural lands though.

The third big U-turn was on Wednesday, December 30th.

KCR was very vehement in his criticism of the Ayushman Bharat program. He called it very inferior to the Arogyasree program that was already being implemented in the state. In his characteristic style, he used acerbic language to deride the program and asked anyone with guts to come to a debate with his minister at a local chourasta! Nearly two years after deriding the program, his government announced yesterday that they will now participate in the Ayushman Bharat program too!

Why these U-Turns?

Immediately after the loss in the GHMC elections, KCR scheduled a visit to Delhi and met the Prime Minister and many other Union ministers. There is a section of analysts who believe that some of these U-turns are a result of those interactions.

Another section of analysts believes that KCR has understood from the recent electoral reverses that some of his policies are hurting people more than benefitting them. The resentment in public was very strong for the hardships they had to undergo for reasons not known to them. Therefore, all these U-turns are seen as an attempt to course correct the mistakes of the past.

There is another section that is wondering whether KCR will dilute some of the centre’s provisions and then pin the blame on the BJP for any hardships people will face. For example, he has announced that he will remove procurement centres from the villages and farmers will now have to go to the APMCs with their produce. This section of analysts is wondering if KCR will tinker with purchasing at MSP and then pin the blame on the BJP.

Whatever the reasons are and however acerbic the criticism of these schemes by KCR was in the past, these U-turns are indeed very welcome and are of immense benefit to the citizens of the state. These will of course cause some strong political debates and perhaps churning also to take place. With these course corrections, KCR will now seek to get back the support of the people. The BJP will claim credit for these U-turns. In case you are wondering how the Congress will react, don’t bother! They are still debating whom to select as it’s state President after the current incumbent resigned after the GHMC elections.