Battle of three Dalit musketeers
SHANKAR RAO, SABITA FIGHT TAKES AN UGLY TURN
Three Dalit musketeers have been keeping the people of Andhra Pradesh
of late fully engaged with their political antics.
Textile Minister P Shankar Rao has upped the ante in his fight against
corruption which he has been waging in his own inimitable way.
Motkupalli Narasimhulu, a former minister, and senior TDP leaders,
threatened to end his life by hanging at the Martyrs Memorial for the
sake of Telangana.
Manda Krishna Madiga, another Dalit leader with acknowledged
capabilities of mobilizing people for direct action undertook 'paada
yaatra' from Babu Jagjivan Ram's statue at Bashirbagh to the Ambedkar
statue at the Tank Bund in Hyderabad in Shankar Rao's support giving a
casteist dimension to the controversy.
The textile minister has been training his guns on Home Minister
Sabita Indra Reddy for some months.
He tasted success when his letter was taken suo motto as a petition by
the High Court which ordered a CBI inquiry into the affairs of Jagati
Publications and Obulapuram mining scam. This has encouraged him to
continue his fight against others who are perceived by him as corrupt.
The latest controversy involving the home minister is escalating by
the day.
Shankar Rao has publicly called the home minister a mother of a mafia
don. He alleged that Sabita and her family members have properties in
and around Hyderabad worth Rs 5000 crore and demanded that the chief
minister order a probe. He also threatened to approach the HC if the
chief minister failed to take action.
Sabita is known to maintain a studied silence whenever she was made a
target. When Bhanu, the prime accused in Suri murder case (who was
himself an accused in Parital Ravi murder case), was allegedly seen at
home minister's peshi and some allegations were repeated by her
detractors for months, she preferred to remain silent but for a couple
of brief statements to the effect that many people visit ministers'
peshis and she never met Bhanu.
In Obulapuram mining case, the CBI made her a witness, not an accused,
although most of the controversial decisions were taken when she was
minister of mines.
The CBI did not find any prima facie evidence to frame charges against
her. Even though the media made some noise about the two episodes, she
could get away unscathed without saying much in public.
But the public accusations being made by the textile minister are
acutely embarrassing for her. The home minister is understood to have
contemplated the idea of addressing a press conference and tell the
people that there is not a shred of evidence in the allegations being
made by Shankar Rao.
But she was advised by her well-wishers that her press conference
would be followed by a dozen press conferences by the textile minister
and the media would dutifully report whatever he had to say since he
is an important minister and a Dalit leader at that. More importantly,
his unconventional remarks make a good copy.
Even the chief minister has been hesitating to call the textile
minister and ask him to eschew from making allegations against a
Cabinet colleague.
When the home minister approached Kiran Kumar Reddy with a request to
intervene, the chief minister is understood to have advised her to
ignore the diatribe. Sources close to the home minister say that there
are many others in the Cabinet and the Congress party who are
indirectly supporting the textile minister for their own reasons,
jealousy being one of them.
Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, another Dalit leader, was
promised the weighty home ministry at the time of his elevation. He
would naturally be happy to see Sabita divested of the ministry
following a series of accusations.
Seniors in the Congress party are piqued at the fact that an
inexperienced lady has been allowed to remain home minister for almost
three years when the State has seen some of the worst crises in law
and order.
That is perhaps why no one in the party is prepared to give a damn
when a Cabinet minister is being damned. The fact that M M Jahangir,
an alleged rowdy-sheeter whom the textile minister is supporting, is
the land grabber and one Hanumantha Rao , a senior citizen, went to
the Supreme Court and got favourable orders declaring him as the
rightful owner of 5.5 acres of land, is not being articulated by any
one.
But the attack on Shankar Rao at NTR Nagar would surely create
problems for the home minister despite her repeated claims that those
who allegedly attacked Shankar Rao are not known to her or her son.
Manda Krishna Madiga has reportedly finalised his plans to sit on
dharna at NTR Nagar in order to uphold the self respect of Dalits. We
are surely going to hear more from Shankar Rao and Manda Krishna
Madiga on this aspect.
TDP leader Motkupalli Narasimhulu has been mounting a series of
attacks on the president of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) K
Chandrasekhara Rao who is refusing to join the battle.
Narsimhulu has been purposely using harsh language with a view to
provoking the TRS chief into entering into a verbal dual with him.
Observers believe that he has the support of the Telangana Forum in
the TDP and the blessings of the party's chief N Chandrababu Naidu. It
is necessary to weaken KCR if TDP has to remain strong.
Though some people feel that the way the three Dalit musketeers have
been conducting themselves is not congenial to established democratic
traditions, nobody is prepared to stick his neck out since they are
Dalit leaders and the general public would be sympathetic to them.
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