Telangana at Two Faces Huge Issues
The state of Telangana was formed on the 2nd June 2014. It was bifurcated from the former state of Andhra Pradesh. Telangana had acquired identity as Telgu speaking region in the former princely state of Hyderabad. Once Hyderabad state was dissolved Telangana was merged with former Andhra State in 1956.
With the success of demand and protests held for separate state of Telangana, two years back it was separated from Andhra Pradesh to form the 29th state of India.
Who holds power in Telangana:
The two-year-old state faces numerous tasks as it celebrates its Statehood Day today. Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is the ruling party in the state and the party has won all main polls held in the new state since the party came to power.
TRS had long demanded creation of new state Telangana and once the demand was granted the same party came to power in the state. TRS has long been competing with Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra over power as well as river water sharing over other things.
K Chandrashekar Rao and his son K T Rama Rao are the only two who are said to take decisions in the state. K T Rama Rao is considered a foreign educated and media savvy political successor of his father.
How has KCR cemented his political position:
KCR it is said is not as media savvy as his Andhra counterpart Chandrababu Naidu. However, the CM has won over journalists by doling out a health insurance fund for journalists and providing them a new building for the press club.
KCR it is said has also bought a TV channel called T News and a Telugu newspaper called Namaste Telangana. To further consolidate his political position KCR has kept talking about how the fertile Andhra had ruled over Telangana region which is not so fertile and is much drier.
KCR faces protest in the backyard:
In his home district KCR is facing protest by around 30,000 villagers who are cooking on the roads and saying that the government is making them homeless as well as landless. Because of Mallanna Sagar Irrigation Project they are saying that their land has been submerged. Land acquisition has not been easy for KCR as it has never been easy with other chief ministers.
Issues faced by the state:
Telangana is one state that is wanting to solve its drinking water issue, plus wants to utilise resources wisely and also create more jobs. These three have been KCR's poll promises too. Also farmers which have been the core vote bank of KCR are not happy about the compensation they are receiving for giving up their land for the Mallana Sagar project.
The new state of Telangana has its own issues but for the people of both the states the bitterness has disappeared that followed the division of the state.