Elections crucial test for KCR’s governance model
VERDICT K Chandrasekhar Rao’s wide-ranging welfare schemes battle unfulfilled promises
Osmania University is an iconic Hyderabad institution, the hub of the movement for Telangana and a site where generations of students from across the region developed a worldview.
With elections due on December 7, state politics dominates the conversations of students.
Shiva Kalyan, Vamsee Krishna and Kranti are pursuing Master of Education degrees and hope to get teaching jobs when they graduate. All three are from Jagtial district. “We all actively participated in the struggle for Telangana. We supported the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR). But no more. It has been five years and he has not delivered on his promises. Where are the jobs?” asked Kalyan. His friends concur. They have decided to back the Maha Kootami (grand alliance) of the Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India and Telangana Jana Samithi. “We don’t want the TDP to interfere in our politics. But the Congress is a national party,” said Kranti.
Indian elections often revolve around leadership. Narendra Modi’s gambit of turning 2014 into an almost presidential race worked. In the current batch of state elections, it is Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s popularity or Raman Singh’s image which gives the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the hope of retaining power in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh even after 15 years; in Rajasthan, it is CM Vasundhara Raje’s perceived unpopularity that is the party’s biggest challenge.
In Telangana, too, the single most important variable is KCR — his images dominate Hyderabad’s streets, his hoardings are on the highways, every political conversation begins with an assessment of ‘KCR rule’ and his model of governance.
His supporters focus on welfare. His critics focus on nepotism, inaccessibility and alleged corruption. Which of the two narratives will prevail will determine the December 11 outcome.
THE WELFARE PITCH
The support for KCR goes back to his role in creating Telangana — ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans dominate his rallies. After his 2014 electoral victory, he finds support due to his expansive welfare politics.
Madupati Mahesh from Begumpet, said he will vote for KCR. “I have three acres of land. Every year, I get ₹4,000 per acre per season — so I get ₹24,000. My mother is old and my father has died. So she gets an allowance of ₹1,000 per month. And we get 24 hours of electricity. I don’t have a sister. Otherwise we would have got ₹1 lakh as a part of his Kalyana Lakshmi scheme for her wedding. Which government has given so much?”
TRS showcases these schemes as achievements. Kalyana Lakshmi or Shaadi Mubarak entails state support for weddings; Rythu Bandhu provides direct monetary assistance to farmers; there also exist a range of pensions and allowances for single women, the elderly, and the differently abled. Added to this list is the promise — only partly fulfilled — of 2BHK flats to families below the poverty line, and clean water to households.
KCR has combined a range of political and governance strategies with an eye on farmers, the poor, and women. He has relied on direct cash transfers and assistance, and thus targeted individual beneficiaries in the same manner as the central government has sought to do with its schemes on rural housing or toilet construction. He has, through promises of housing, also offered the prospect of tangible asset creation for the needy.
But the promise of welfare services also has its pitfalls. So on housing, voters point out that the projects are mostly incomplete or have not started. On financial assistance to farmers, the smaller farmers and the landless are resentful that the bigger farmers corner a huge share of the resources. It also drains state resources and leads to fiscal indiscipline, as the rising debt of the state reveals.
THE PRAGATHI BHAVAN PROBLEM
If TRS’s strength comes from a unanimously chosen leader and how welfare schemes are so starkly linked with him, its weakness also stems from leadership.
Sreelekha, a student from Khammam district pursuing a Master of Commerce degree at Osmania, calls KCR a “cheat”. “The state was created for everyone. But only he and his family have benefitted. He has not fulfilled his promises,” she said. Both, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi have pointed to the centralisation of authority with KCR and his family.
Mohammad Ghouse, a small shopkeeper in Mahbubnagar’s Jadcherla constituency said, “It is all controlled by him and his family from Pragathi Bhavan. Even local MLAs do not know what is happening.” KCR operates out of his residence, Pragathi Bhavan, and not the secretariat.
This perception manifests in different ways. At a local mobile shop in Mahbubnagar, Ilyas Ahmad takes out his phone and shows a video he received on WhatsApp of KCR lashing out at a group of Muslim men. They had, at a rally, asked him about his failure to provide 12% reservations to Muslims. Ahmad says, “Look at his arrogance. Is this the way to talk to people? We would have voted for him but not now.”
Narsingh Yadav, a local TRS leader in Hyderabad, rubbishes these charges while waiting for KCR at a party rally. “The CM has worked and benefits are clearly visible to the people.”
Regarding job creation and unimplemented schemes, Yadav said, “It has only been four a half years. Congress and TDP have ruled for decades. We need more time.”
A senior Hyderabad journalist, who did not wish to be named, points to the increasing similarities between KCR and former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa’s rule. They both were in complete control of their parties. They relied on welfare to reach the poor. They were inaccessible, turning only to close confidantes. Jayalalithaa battled corruption allegations and KCR battles a perception of wealth accumulation.
“A disconnect grows between the CM and MLAs, between the CM and the people, and between the MLAs and the people,” the journalist said.
Many TRS candidates are incumbents, who face a strong challenge in terms of the arithmetic of vote share, in the form of Maha Kootami candidates. But to offset this, they have a trump card in KCR.
HYDERABAD/MAHBUBNAGAR: