The latest to add to the confusion is the popular folk singer and the well- known Maoist sympathiser Gadar, who is a household name in the Telengana region as he has enthralled the public by way of his folk singing for more than three decades. Gadar has recently launched an outfit called Telengana Praja Front to intensify the struggle for a separate state. Some may dismiss him as a spent force but he has his own appeal and his new front may change the political scene if it clicks. He is looking at a constituency consisting of dalits, OBCs, lawyers, government servants and the youth.

The danger is that this forum may give an opportunity to the Maoists claiming to speak for the oppressed groups and play a vital role. Interestingly Gadar is launching a political movement and not a political party. Despite his age he is emboldened to take up the Telengana issue, which has been dear to his heart for many years. He has had links with the naxalites in the region and is often known to speak for them. The return of the Maoists should worry the state as well as the centre at this point of time when they are battling with the naxalites and the resultant law and order problem.

Also Gadar believes that this movement was the only way to get a separate Telengana state and does not believe in political parties like the TRS. The panchayat polls may be a test for the front and if it captures some panchayats that will be the success of the movement. As for the political parties, the Congress is still twiddling its thumbs not knowing which way to go. As in the Ayodhya issue, it has not a taken decisive stand after the violence in the state when the Union Home Minister P, Chidambaram made his midnight announcement on December 9 last year that the process of a new state will begin soon. While the Congress legislators and MPs from Telengana are demanding a separate state, those from Andhra and Rayalaseema are insisting on a Vishal Andhra. Coming winter session of Parliament will see the increased activity from two sides as both groups would put pressure on the Congress leadership. The Congress leadership has to sort out the problems in the state where there is a weak chief minister who is looking to the centre for every thing and a PCC president who has lost his deposit in the recent Assembly bye elections. Andhra Pradesh, which was a citadel of Congress at one point of time, is in total disarray after the death of Dr. Y. S. Rajashekhar Reddy. His son Jagan Mohan Reddy has also become a problem with his dissident activities. What the state Congress needs is a strong leadership who would deal with the situation after the Sri Krishna report comes out. Whichever way Srikrishna Commission may decide, there is bound to be violence in the state. In case the commission decides on a separate state, there will be full-scale violence in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. Secondly, Rayalaseema may demand a separate state if Telengana comes through.

Moreover, the question of Hyderabad as the capital is another ticklish issue. Never before in the history of India had a capital been a big issue in the demand for a separate state. Rich investors from the other two regions as well as those from abroad have invested billions of rupees in the capital and they will fight tooth and nail to see that Hyderabad does not go to Telengana while those spearheading a separate state will insist on holding on to Hyderabad as it was part of Telengana. How the Sri Krishna commission will decide in this regard is a million dollar question. The Telengana issue is kept alive by political parties. The decision of the BJP and the ABVP and other pro Telengana groups wanted to celebrate the Telengana liberation day recently was opposed by the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM). This made the BJP and others to drop this idea.

Successive governments in the state had turned down this on the ground it may create communal tensions. The ruling Congress Party, TRS and other parties celebrated by unfurling the national flag in their party office. Meanwhile the TRS is going ahead on the assumption that a separate state will be formed. The bye election results have enthused its leadership which won 11 out of 12 seats. The TRS not only retained all its 10 seats, which its members had quit in support of, separate Telengana but also wrested a seat from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The Telugu Desam was the loser as its candidates came third in all the 12 constituencies and lost their deposits in five of them. The TRS chief Chandra Shekhara Rao recently held a India CEO forum in which 65 CEOs had participated. This was meant to assure them that the investment will be good and the state would invite more investment.

It is perhaps because of all these the Telugu Desam supremo Chandrababdu Naidu has shifted his strategy. Instead of his lukewarm support for a separate state earlier, Naidu has asked his cadres to intensify the agitation.

The Congress leadership and the centre should take note of these developments and get ready to deal with them. The opposition in the state is still weak and the Telugu Desam has not been able to pick up much in this one and a half years. But what should worry the Congress is groupism, divide on Telengana issue, indiscipline and lack of leadership. Unless these things are tackled, there is going to be a big problem after the Sri Krishna report comes out in December. (IPA Service)