KCR's Bhavan politics

There appears to be a lot of Bhavans coming up in Telangana. The Chief Minister of the state K Chandrasekara Rao seems to be announcing the setting up of a Bhavan every now and then.

The latest Bhavan is the Christian Bhavan and the assembly has now approved sanctioning Rs 10 crore for the setting up of the same. KCR said that the Bhavan is coming up to cater to the needs of the Christian community and this announcement was made by him while speaking at the Greater Hyderabad United Christmas Celebrations Committee.

The other Bhavans

Recently he laid the foundation stone for the Banjara Bhavan. Prior to this he had announced that a Journalists Bhavan would be set up. Then again after the state was formed one of the first Bhavans to come up was the Telangana Bhavan. Also on the anvil is a SC Bhavan.

What is the real message

So, what is the larger message in setting up of these Bhavans. If one may notice these Bhavans are all being announced ahead of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections scheduled to be held anytime soon.

The term of the GHMC had come to an end and the government has got three months before it can announce a fresh date. At the moment a special officer has been appointed to run the affairs of the GHMC. In all probability the elections are to be held in the next month or so.

A real test

For KCR the GHMC election will be a real test. It would basically be a mirror for his perfomance as the Chief Minister and it is extremely important for him to win the elections to control the affairs of the city.

Taking into account the cosmopolitan nature of Hyderabad it is extremely important for KCR to play the caste dymanics well. When he announced the Christian Bhavan, he had in mind the good number of Christian population that there is in Secundarabad which falls under the purview of the GHMC. He went step ahead and announced the Christian board as well and said that it wont be logical to say that a Dalit Christian is not entitled for welfare schemes of the government.

The Sania Mirza episode

KCR had also recently announced Sania Mirza as the brand ambassador of the Telangana state. His decision had come in for a lot of criticism and it was said that he was trying to appease the MIM led by Owasi for the sake of Muslim votes.

However KCR stuck his ground and said that people were reading too much into it. The fact of the matter however is that KCR will need the MIM which controls the dominant Muslim vote in Hyderabad to even matter in the GHMC elections.