The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was formed in 2001 with the agenda of achieving statehood for Telangana. Later this month, the party will celebrate its 15th anniversary. This will almost coincide with party founder and president K Chandrashekar Rao completing two years in office as chief minister after he formed the first government of Telangana on June 2, 2014.
Between then and now the approach of the party and its leader has undergone a big change. The challenge has been to offer a stable and forward-looking government in the quickest possible time. Obviously the rhetoric that ignited passions over the demand for separate statehood not so long ago had to be abandoned.
A conscious effort to eliminate or avoid points of friction in the political and social space, and a steady focus on the future seem to be the mantra being pursued now by the Telangana leadership.
Soon after the bifurcation, the governments of the two sibling states - Telangana and Andhra Pradesh or, Seemandhra, as it is called - started fighting on almost every issue: from water-sharing to the division of employees. The leaders of the two governments accused each other freely. This ensured that the pre-bifurcation divide between the peoples of the two regions was kept alive on both sides.
At one point it seemed that the ego clash between Rao and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu would supersede everything else, including issues of governance. Both of them have now adopted a friendlier tone, and appear to be much more restrained even on sensitive matters like water-sharing.
This self-restraint was evident when both of them chose to avoid criticising each other directly during the campaign for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections in January this year.
Relations with the Centre also improved. Initially, Rao found it difficult to establish a cordial working relationship with the Centre and even criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a couple of occasions. Rao contended that the Centre was favouring Andhra Pradesh over its insistence on the governor's control over the law and order machinery in the joint capital region and on other matters. What also irritated Rao was a quick Ordinance issued by the Centre transferring some areas of Telangana to Andhra Pradesh to avert a potential face-off between the two states on the construction of the Polavaram irrigation project soon after Modi came to power.
But the Telangana CM subsequently went all out to forge good relations with the Centre; he also tried to strike a personal rapport with Modi once realisation dawned on him that it was the only way to get more funds and faster project clearances for the state. Since then, Rao has been sending out signals to the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership that the TRS would be a willing political ally at the Centre. He has congratulated his ministers and officials for Modi's recent remarks that the Telangana government has been working with the Centre to get timely approvals for projects in the state.
Rao and his government also made efforts to defuse the friction in their relationship with the people of Andhra origin, who are settled in Hyderabad and other places in Telangana. He reassured them that they were legitimate citizens of Telangana and his government would not discriminate against them. Taking this message forward, his party gave tickets to at least a dozen people of Andhra origin in the GHMC polls, though only in areas with large numbers of Andhra-origin voters.
Prior to bifurcation, the TRS used to argue that all economic benefits, including jobs in Hyderabad, had been cornered by "Andhra settlers". This had caused fear among the Andhra-ites, who rallied behind the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to counter the TRS influence. This was evident in the results of earlier elections. As they are substantial in number, the TRS was never able to make a political dent in the Hyderabad region. The shift in the party's stand and a favourable law and order situation in the city turned the tide in the TRS' favour, which swept the GHMC polls.
The TRS had been a marginal force in state politics prior to bifurcation, as the Congress and the TDP were able to maintain their hold on its traditional support base. The TRS struggled to expand its presence as then chief minister Naidu was backed by the strong organisational network of his party apart from a strong group of party leaders in Telangana.
Though the TRS contested the 2004 polls in alliance with the Congress and became its ally in the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, then Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajashekar Reddy, also of the Congress, gave the TRS a hard time and even split a large section of its legislators after the two parties parted ways a couple of years later. Being a master political strategist, Rao was able to keep the Telangana issue simmering. He achieved this by compelling every party, including the TDP, to back the statehood demand. But when the Congress pushed this to the logical end in 2014, it was Rao who emerged as the natural champion of the Telangana cause.
Rao has been running the government with an iron hand, keeping ministers and Assembly members away from financial irregularities. His government tried to put in place transparent mechanisms for recruitment in government jobs and industrial clearances, among other things. Hyderabad once again started attracting global players, including companies such as Apple, backed by able marketing from Rao's son and Information Technology and Panchayati Raj Minister K T Rama Rao. The CM is now focused on realising his dream of creating irrigation potential for 10 million acres in the state. The state government sanctioned Rs 25,000 crore for irrigation in this Budget, which would be enhanced by Rs 5,000 crore in the Budget next year. Telangana is gearing up to become one of the best- governed states in south India.
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