I rarely talk about Andhra Pradesh politics as my knowledge of current political affairs in AP is fairly limited. I cannot help but comment on the merger of Cong-I and PRP.
Back in March/April of 2009, prior to the election, I commented that the single biggest mistake one would do is to vote for Praja Rajyam Party. A few people scolded me for that ‘partisan’ comment.
That strong statement was based on a ‘reliable’ information from people in the know. The birth of Praja Rajyam was the handiwork YSR’s Cong-I. When it comes to executing divide and rule strategy flawlessly, Cong-I takes the cake. They could win in two elections by very effectively splitting TDP votes with the help of two pawns: Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga and Chiranjeevi.
The first act was in the 80s and it left wounds that would never heal between two communities. I wonder where this second act takes us.
I must admit – this is political genius!
ఇప్పుడిప్పుడే గూడుపుఠాణీ అర్థమవుతోంది..లక్షల కోట్ల ఆస్తిని ఎలా సంపాదించాలో అప్పట్లో వై యెస్ కు ఒక బ్రహ్మాండమైన ఆలోచన వచ్చింది. అయితే దానికి కావలసినది పదవి ” .ఒక్క సారి.. ఒకే ఒక్క సారి .. నన్ను గెలిపించండి ..” చాలు అంటూ అప్పట్లో ఆయన ప్రజలని మభ్య పెట్టి మురిపించారు… అయినా గెలుస్తానా లేదా అని అపనమ్మకం. ఎలాగైనా గెలిచి తీరాలి… ఎలెక్షణ్ రిగ్గింగులూ అవీ అన్నీ పాత పద్దతులు.. పైగా రిస్కు తో కూడుకున్నవి..ఇక ఉన్న ఒకే మార్గము , ప్రతిపక్షాల ఓట్లు చీల్చడము.. ఊరికే ఎలా చీలుతాయి ? ఎవరైనా కాస్త పేరున్న వాళ్ళు మూడో పార్టీ పెడితే చీలుతాయి.. ఇంకేం, చిరంజీవి దొరికాడు. ఇద్దరూ కుమ్ముక్కయ్యారు.. ‘ ప్రజారాజ్యం ‘ పుట్టింది. ఏదో ఒక స్లోగన్ కావాలిగా, పదాలు బాగున్నాయని , ‘ సామాజిక న్యాయం ‘ ఎంచుకున్నారు.
ఎలెక్షన్ సమయం లో తిరుపతి లో చిరు డబ్బులతో దొరికాడని ఇంకో చిన్న డ్రామా… వారి గూడుపుఠాణీ ఎవరికీ తెలియరాదని…
వోట్లు చీలుతాయని అది కాంగ్రెస్ కు ఉపకరిస్తుందని వై యెస్ ఎలెక్షన్ ముందే ఢంకా బజాయించి చెప్పాడు.. అందరికీ ‘ ప్రగల్భాలు ‘ అనిపించేలా…
ఎలెక్షన్ అయ్యాక , ఫలితాలు అనుకున్నట్లుగానే వచ్చాయి… అందరూ వై యెస్ ‘ దూరదృష్టి ‘ ని బలే మెచ్చుకున్నారు.. తర్వాత దోపిడీ మొదలైంది..చిరు ని కాంగ్రెస్ లో అప్పట్లోనే చేర్చుకుంటే ‘ మరీ ‘ బాగుండదని , కాస్త వేచి చూశారు…కానీ అనుకోకుండా ( ?) వై యెస్ మరణించారు.
న్యాయం గా అయితే, చిరు ఇప్పుడు జగన్ తో జట్టు కట్టాలి… కానీ అసలు సంగతి తెలుస్తుందని ఒక శంకతోనూ , ఒకే దెబ్బకి రెండు పిట్టల్లాగా కాంగ్రెస్ ని బలహీన పరచి , ఇంకా వోట్లు చీల్చాలని , అటు జగన్ బయటికి , ఇటు చిరు లోపలికి వచ్చారు.
మధ్యలో కొందరు ‘ మేధావుల ‘ తో ఆడుకున్నారు.
ఇంతవరకు చిరు కు ముట్టింది ఎంతో ? ఇక ముందు ఎంతో ? జగన్ పార్టీ లోకి ఎప్పుడు చేరతారో ? ఇవి కాలమే చెబుతుంది….
Congress has the proven history of dividing and ruling. That is indisputable. Take the case of Punjab. Congress usurped Bhindranwale(there were reports he was released at the behest of the then home minister Zail Singh from congress) to snub Akali Dal which was invincible in that state and congress was having tough time making inroads into that state politically. Unfortunately people either don’t know or forget the history and they are condemned to repeat it. I am not comparing Chiranjeevi to Bhindranwale here so don’t put me on the hit list. 🙂 Obviously there is no comparison there. I am only saying Congress will go to any lengths to try and win an election.
Coming to the present state of Andhra Pradesh politics just think about the past two elections. In 2004 congress usurped KCR and garner votes in Telngana area and see what a monster he has become now. And before Chiranjeevi hoisted his party he was being harassed by congress (remember how some politicians were helping his daughter marrying someone not entirely welcomed in the family etc) and pushed him to launch a party. Until that time he was ambivalent and kind of content with his popularity and some social work and a couple of movies a year. It was a very successful maneuver by congress.
Chiranjeevi may be having good intentions that his popularity can be used to do something for the people, but in politics there is no such thing as good intentions. It is clear he is surrounded by a coterie of previous congress minions and of course his education in politics is now graduating him in congress. He doesn’t have the temerity or will power of NTR nor the fastidiousness of Jaya Prakash Narayan of Lok Satta party. even without the popularity that Chiranjeevi was enjoying, JP was trying to build a party and sanity in politics. He should learn it from him. And yes shame on him to join a party wrought with corruption and nepotism. If Chiru has any sincerity in cleaning politics and changing history he should have joined Lok Satta party. Well anyway this is my opinion.
–Ramana
రాబోయే కాలం ఏమి సెప్పినా … జరిగిన కాలం లోవి చూసి చెప్పగలిగేది “జోహార్ పి.ఆర్.పి “
Seems like a conspiracy theory to me. However Chiru should know that it was a tough task to start a new party. Why he did it ? only he knows.
The topic of Prajarajyam aligning with Congress came many times before the elections. Chiru always said he is not going to do it. And now with this U turn, the earlier theories proved right.
Me thinks its no big deal. Its neither gain nor loss for Congress. Its just a political distraction.
I will take this comment from Prof Mohan to what it was worth for – and this was revealed in the very opening sentence by himself:
“I rarely talk about Andhra Pradesh politics as my knowledge of current political affairs in AP is fairly limited.”
I still don’t understand what Sri garu is supporting here and why. Okarini cheddavadu ante, inkokadikanna konchem takkuva ante elagandi Sri garu. Chill down and let your love on Chiru be only in movies. Inkoka vishayam, inni may be lu vaadi chiru ni suppot chestunnaru, JP ni kooda alane support cheyyandi Sir !!
Kanaka Byraju Garu,
It is wrong to conclude and suggest me to limit my ‘love’ to movies. While almost every telugu guy who is not filled with caste feeling up to his neck geneerally likes Chiranjeevi’s movies, our topic of discussion is about Mohan garu’s wild theory of linking vongaveeti ranga’s case and now chiranjeevi’s case as an example of ‘divide and rule policy’. I don’t even want to talk about BhaskarBhotla’s silly yendamoori veerendaranth’s extract that was attached below.
One of the fundamental problem with any conspiracy theory is that they just pick and choose few examples ( from fake moon landing to 911 ) to support their argument and do not bother to refer to all the facts.
If you take the example of Mohan garu’s theory of divide and rule, if YSR is so genius, why was he not successful during Chandrababu’s regime ? If you remember, he had to work like a dog to become a CM doing all that padayatra in peek summer.
Over simplifying and creating a theory, I feel is not a good piece of Journalisim, especialy when you simply say that I heard from a very reliable source. Just because another friend of mine is very reliable to me doesn’t make the story true. That is how rumours start !
Sri,
Here is where your argument fails. First of all, I am not claiming to be a journalist. I am just linking to news and writing my opinions here. Second, even real journalist cite anonymous sources. Deep throat was an anonymous source. If you don’t know who Deep Throat is, look it up. It was up to WaPost readers to decide whether they could trust Woodward and Bernstein.
I stand by what I said earlier – I trust my sources enough to put my credibility on the line here. Also, I will save my fire for another day to explain in detail about YSR’s (and Congress) involvement in using Ranga to split TDP vote.
If you think I am being silly or stupid or even untrustworthy, that is your prerogative and I have no qualms about it. I let readers be his or her own judge of my trustworthiness.
I feel fairly comfortable in my own skin to take perfectly reasonable criticism. But I can see right through your utterly bogus objectivity.
You can have the last word, my friend.
I expected that you won’t like to be called as Journalist although you have been going around and doing lot of journalistic activites. Anyway, since you compared yourself with Woodward, there is a significant difference between investigative journalism and yellow journalism.
Question is not whether your sources or you are trustworhty. Infact like lot of your listeners, inspite of not a being a very eloquent talk show host, I too respect you for being sincere in what you believe and talk. I also appreciate number of other initiatives you are taking to improve TORI and Teluglobe. But I cannot agree with your attitude of ‘I am a good person so everything I say is correct’.
Unfortunately, this discussion is turning personal. While I am trying to stay focused on topic of discussion only, you have been trying to attack me or insult me personally.
I still consider that you are doing a great service to telugu community and with that respect in mind, I think you should not be too distracted with arguements like this. Since I am not able to add a positive value to this disucssion anymore, I respectfuly withdraw myself from this discussion.
Good luck and good bye.
Sri,
Thanks for the kind words. Looking back at our exchanges –
It is just in my nature to thank people for what I see as fair criticism and rebut what I see as unfair criticism. (BTW, I wasn’t comparing myself to Woodward). However, I regret using the phrase ‘bogus objectivity.’ Often it is the case with blog/bb participation, words don’t come out the way they are intended. There is no way for sure to know if your comments are that of a hard-core and articulate Chiru fan (and perhaps you are not one), or somebody who really sees things that way. I am sure a one-on-one conversation would have turned out to be quite different than this.
It is unfortunate to lose your participation on this board. I hope you reconsider your decision.
Peace!
Yet another conspiracy theory out of your ‘reliable sources’.
PRP merging with congress is pretty logical and there is nothing illegal about it. Politics is a dirty game. People smart in it win. Losers lick their wounds.
Even if your theory is true, there is nothing wrong in playing that game. You have that cunning fox lurking all the time (babu) with his all kinds of political seat sharing prior to elections. What else would you expect ?
Oh my – somebody is testy here! Perhaps a hard-core Chiru fan.
“Yet another conspiracy theory out of your ‘reliable sources’.”
I know you like to see everything I say with ‘conspiracy theory’ lens. It is not a conspiracy theory – it is an observation based on a conversation with somebody I trust. Nobody has to believe what I say. If you like to paint my comment that way and if it helps your bruised ego, be my guest!
“PRP merging with congress is pretty logical and there is nothing illegal about it.”
Nobody said it isn’t legal. We are talking about the misplaced and lost trust here.
I really thought nobody can beat Babu in being untrustworthy. Chiru just ran with that dubious distinction. In politics, never say never.
Chiru may be a “Mega Star” on screen, but one more time he proved to be a joker in politics.
As I said – brilliant politics by YSR!
I do not understand why it is untrustworhty ! Majority of the people elected Congress party in last elections. Someone who aspired, may be with all good intentions, could not get enough seats, may be due to mistakes at every turn or may be there is no political vaccum as he might have calculated. He is unable to achieve his political goals with the mandate that people gave and when you cannot achieve the best, atleast you settle for better. If people do not vote for your agenda, what alternative do you have ? Either you can spend rest of your life waiting for people to understand your good intentions or go with the flow and atleast save your skin. Thats all he did !
It is a brilliant idea indeed.. People are made fools all the time by the policts run by few politicians. I wonder when the mass will get educated and can see the good and bad. This is not as simple as black and white. Even thieves, once upon a time had honor among themselves, but our corrupt politicians does not have any. A sad state of affairs.
shame!