AICC tightens strings on Telangana affairs from Delhi; Revanth Reddy’s vain bid to invoke Telugu pride

Reports in media outlets feeding on leaks from the Revanth Reddy camp smack of desperate attempts to warn the AICC, by calling its actions self-destructive, that it was undermining the duly-elected Chief Minister and also dubbing Natarajan & Co as ‘super bosses’.

Hyderabad: The writing on the wall is clear. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has his back against the wall, under attack from all sides and within the party too.

The Kancha Gachibowli fiasco has seen Revanth Reddy facing one setback after the other, from the Supreme Court, from the High Court, from the public, from the opposition.

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Now, with the All India Congress Committee (AICC) too stepping in to take the reins of governance in the State, as seen from how Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan has been involved in the university issue over the last few days, Revanth Reddy is undoubtedly rattled. The situation has seen him resorting to yet another gimmick, that of invoking Telugu pride and self-respect in an effort to loosen the AICC strings that are tightening on him.

Reports in media outlets feeding on leaks from the Revanth Reddy camp smack of desperate attempts to warn the AICC, by calling its actions self-destructive, that it was undermining the duly-elected Chief Minister and also dubbing Natarajan & Co as ‘super bosses’.

What was discussed in hushed tones in Gandhi Bhavan and in those media outlets is now out in the open after Natarajan showed that she meant business and that the final word was still with the high command.

She not only participated in the Committee of Ministers’ meeting with University of Hyderabad Teachers Association and representatives of public organizations at the Secretariat, but also got Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka to issue orders to the police to withdraw cases registered against UoH students and even to withdraw the police from the campus.

This move, apparently seen as a retreat from the smouldering war zone by the government, has left not just Revanth Reddy, but the State leadership also jittery. Ministers are quietly saying that Natarajan should not have participated in the meeting or gone to the Secretariat, or in other words, that she should not have “meddled with administrative issues”.

However, insiders point out that the AICC had only tightened the strings that it already thrown around Revanth Reddy, citing how the high command had rejected his suggestions for the MLC elections, how actor-turned-politician Vijayashanthi came from literally nowhere and became an MLC, and how the Cabinet expansion has been kept on hold for a year now, despite Revanth Reddy’s 40-odd visits to Delhi.

That was not all. The Gandhi family has not met the Chief Minister on most of his Delhi tours, even as other leaders, including TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud and other Ministers were meeting Congress MPs Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi whenever they went to Delhi. Interestingly, the TPCC president during a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Monday defended Natarajan’s meeting with the Committee of Ministers at the Secretariat.

Revanth Reddy’s friendly overtones to BJP, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his closeness to his former political mentor N Chandrababu Naidu, who is also riding the NDA bandwagon now, have not gone down well with the AICC, which apparently is now openly showing him who the boss is.

His attempts to lean on Telugu pride and self-respect, bring in history and fire from the shoulders of stalwarts like NT Rama Rao, are all being seen within the party itself as a drowning man clutching at the last straw.