Usually, anywhere in the country, opposition leaders demand a Chief Minister’s resignation either for political reasons or over allegations. But no Chief Minister would resign simply because the opposition leader demanded it. Telangana, however, appears to be witnessing a completely different kind of politics now. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy made a sensational demand on Monday, calling for opposition leader K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) to resign. He also called upon Congress workers to launch a series of phased programmes demanding KCR’s resignation. The issue has now become a major topic of discussion. The reasons cited by Revanth Reddy for demanding KCR’s resignation as the Leader of the Opposition may, in fact, appear reasonable. Revanth Reddy revealed that during these 1,000 days, KCR has received around Rs. 1.20 crore in salary as the Leader of the Opposition. Including the expenditure on his security and other facilities, the government has spent Rs. 22.40 crore on KCR during this 1,000-day period.
Despite this, Revanth Reddy alleged that KCR had not spoken even once about public issues during these 1,000 days and had not stepped out to address people’s problems. Taking a sharp dig at KCR, Revanth Reddy asked, “What comparison is there between me, who is constantly among the people, and KCR, who has remained confined to his farmhouse for 1,000 days?” Revanth Reddy further criticised KCR, alleging that the former Chief Minister comes out only for his family members and not for the people or to address problems in the state. He pointed out that a government employee who fails to attend work for 365 consecutive days would be dismissed from service. Similarly, he said Congress workers should fight for the resignation of KCR, who has allegedly failed to perform his duties while receiving benefits worth crores of rupees from the government for 1,000 days.
In the past, too, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, along with his ministers and other Congress leaders, repeatedly demanded that opposition leader KCR attend the Assembly. However, since the Congress government came to power in Telangana, KCR has attended the Assembly only two or three times in total. Even on those occasions, he mostly attended briefly during the Governor’s address and left soon afterwards. With BRS leaders KTR and Harish Rao repeatedly criticising the Revanth Reddy government, alleging that its 1,000-day rule has been filled with failures, Revanth Reddy hit back strongly at the BRS leadership on Monday evening. Speaking at the inauguration of the Musarambagh flyover, he launched a scathing attack on the BRS leaders.
Revanth Reddy said that while the BRS government had allegedly given most positions to its own people, his government had provided appropriate representation to all sections of society. He questioned how the two administrations could even be compared. It is well known that while he was in power, KCR spent much of his time confined to his farmhouse and Pragathi Bhavan. Even after moving into the opposition, KCR continues to remain largely confined to his farmhouse. Revanth Reddy now appears to be trying to turn this into a political advantage. That is why the Chief Minister has called upon Congress workers to organise programmes for a week and strongly take the issue of KCR remaining confined to his farmhouse for the past 1,000 days to the people. KTR and Harish Rao have countered these criticisms on several occasions in the past, claiming that they are enough to take on Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. However, whether these counterattacks have received public acceptance remains questionable. It remains to be seen how far Revanth Reddy can benefit politically from this issue.