As the Jubilee Hills by-elections approach, Rajya Sabha member R Krishnaiah sharing a platform with KTR and praising KCR as champion of BC rights is sending confusing signals for the BJP. It is strange that Krishnaiah does not remember anyone except KCR while praising the leaders who ruled the Telugu states that are currently.
It seems that he himself has forgotten what he said about Chandrababu Naidu in the Telugu Desam Mahanadu in 2014. He has forgotten that he addressed Chandrababu Naidu as an architect of social justice from that platform. One historical mistake that Chandrababu Naidu made was to hastily induct R Krishnaiah into the party and declare him the Chief Ministerial candidate.
Krishnaiah had only been a BC social activist until then. Chandrababu Naidu’s decision to recognize Krishnaiah’s potential and bring him into the party and make him the chief ministerial candidate was not liked by the Telugu Desam activists and leaders. Chandrababu’s decision could have provided Krishnaiah with a political platform but caused immense damage to the Telangana TDP.
The results of Chandrababu’s experiment of focusing on Krishnaiah as the chief ministerial candidate are still haunting the TDP in Telangana. Anyone who has observed the results of the 2014 elections will understand that the Telangana society always wants a fight. Even today, the BRS party keep saying that KCR made the formation of Telangana state possible. Even though the entire result of the movement was taken into its own account, TRS could not get a landslide majority.
The TDP, which was branded as anti-Telangana, won 20 seats in alliance with the BJP and it is noteworthy that the TDP remained strong even in the days when the Telangana sentiment was burning. By that time, the TDP had a strong leadership in Telangana. No matter how Chandrababu thought that the leaders who had trusted the party and strengthened the party for decades would accept Krishnaiah in place of Chandrababu, the party in Telangana was scattered.
Krishnaiah, however, found a political platform. Since that day, Krishnaiah has been searching for his presence in all the parties in the two Telugu states. He left the TDP and joined the Congress, but the people did not support him. Despite the open politics, he suddenly reappeared as a member of the YSRCP Rajya Sabha.
After the YSRCP lost, he resigned from the YSRCP party and Rajya Sabha membership and took on a new avatar as a BJP Rajya Sabha member. However, it is impossible to say how much support Krishnaiah has from the people. The reason is that when he first made his political debut, the TDP made him win from a strong position. Later, he contested and lost. Since then, he has been in politics on the screen.
He continues to be a BJP MP and said that the former BRS party leader KCR gave the BCs a big boost. Speaking at a conference organized by BRS, he said that if the constitution is amended for reservations for BCs, they should protest against the governments. He also said that only then will the governments fall.
Krishnaiah seems to have forgotten that the BJP has the power to amend the constitution and that he is a BJP Rajya Sabha member. Krishnaiah can justify that all parties participated in that meeting. But it is surprising that why Krishnaiah praised KCR so much without talking about Modi?
He forgot that TDP promoted him, and at the same time praised KCR for appointing BC as Advocate General in the High Court, but Krishnaiah ignored the fact that he had praised the BC declaration made by TDP a decade ago.
In the backdrop of the Jubilee Hills by-election, when BJP was also fielding its candidate, what is the relevance behind Krishnaiah praising KCR by saying that he should launch a movement against his party? Now, the BJP elders should think about Krishnaiah’s speech.