BJP win gives hope to Telangana lobby

HYDERABAD: The prospects for Telangana just got brighter. With the BJP edging its way into office in Bangalore, pro-Telangana forces will get a leg up and analysts feel that the Congress high command in New Delhi may give the green signal for a separate state ahead of the 2009 elections. The logic is simple: the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which is presently unattached, will look for partners in the run up to the general elections and will choose that national party or alliance which is serious about creating Telangana.

The BJP obviously fits the bill — the lead partner in the last NDA government had created new states of Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh, giving it a track record of creating small states. When this happens, alarm bells will ring in the Congress high command for whom every vote and seat will matter in the 2009 elections — in view of the anti-incumbency effect it will have to contend with.

Faced with the prospects of a complete wipe-out in the Telangana region, given the very strong sentiments in the region, 10 Janpath may think that the wiser thing may be to be bold and actually grant Telangana, an analyst said.
Creation of Telangana may be aided by the fact that there is considerable sentiment in favour of a new state within the Congress echelons too. The only reason that there is no movement on the matter at the national level is because of the strident opposition from chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

The latter has been successfully able to sell the development story to the Congress high command, arguing that the numerous irrigation projects, free supply of power to farmers, Indiramma houses and Rs 2kg rice will be enough to deliver Andhra Pradesh into the Congress kitty in the next polls. Being one of the very few Congress chief ministers in the country and a major source of resources for the Congress at the Centre, Rajasekhara Reddy's voice has been heard attentively.

But in the aftermath of the Karnataka results, YSR might find himself on a tricky wicket. Even though he went to campaign in the neighbouring region of Bellary in Karnataka, the BJP has been able to make a sweep in the region.
And helping them in achieving this result has been Gali Janardan Reddy of the BJP, who coincidentally has major business interests on this side of the border and is alleged to have links with YSR's son Jaganmohan Reddy.