Hyderabad:
The Congress has managed to score yet another self-goal. The latest by reverting to 10 districts in Telangana after having created a flutter by indicating that it wanted to include two districts of Rayalaseema in the new state that was dubbed Rayala-Telangana.
Ever since December 9, 2009, when then Home Minister P Chidambaram made a midnight announcement declaring that the government was committed to carving out a Telangana state, it has been a series of flip-flops by the ruling party.
If the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) had been worried that it is losing political ground to the Congress after the July 30 Congress Working Committee (CWC) resolution, the Congress' actions have been as though to allay that. The TRS seized the opportunity to assert that it can aggressively protect the sentiments of the people of Telangana by calling for a bandh against the 12-district formula. At the end of the day, when the Congress meekly said it was going with the original plan of 10 districts, it gave an opportunity to the TRS to take credit.
The flip-flops, no doubt, damaged Congress' credibility and reaffirmed public perception that every move of the Congress is arbitrary and not well thought out.
If Rayala-Telangana was part of a master strategy to make electoral gains in both Telangana and Rayalaseema, surely the Congress would have factored in the kind of opposition it would meet, not just from Telangana votaries but from the BJP and every other party here.
It is most unlikely that the Congress took the Rayala-Telangana decision under advice from a party like the MIM (it has only one MP) that has been advocating Rayala-Telangana along with some other leaders from Kurnool and Anantapur.
And it is also not possible that the Congress decided not to go ahead with Rayala-Telangana because of a bandh called by the TRS (two MPs). Both parties have insignificant in numbers in the Lok Sabha.
It's more likely that the Congress realised it would be on the backfoot after the December 8 Assembly Elections results and felt that without the BJP's support on the Telangana Bill, they could get isolated in Parliament, without support even from fringe parties, and therefore decided to revert to the 10-district formula.
Also, the realisation that instead of gains in both sides, the Congress risked even the goodwill it had gained in Telangana over the last four months.
Observers point out that the Congress flip-flops are an insult to the people of Rayalaseema. That they are either declared wanted or unwanted depending on their utility for electoral gains. The very arbitrary decisions have made the people of Rayalaseema feel that they are being taken for granted.