With heavy rains and floods hitting several parts of Telangana state, the extraordinary silence of Indian National Congress president and former Prime Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has left party leaders and workers in a bind.
While KCR’s son KT Rama Rao had gone to the US on holiday, only a few BRS leaders like T Harish Rao, G Jagadish Reddy, Savita Indra Reddy and Puvvada Ajay were seen on the ground visiting the affected families in Suryapet and Khammam.
In fact, even these leaders have not been able to garner a positive response from the people. When Harish Rao tried to create agitation in Khammam, locals protested violently and attacked them. BRS leaders tried to blame the Congress for instigating the attack.
In some ways, the Congress certainly had the upper hand in handling the flood situation. Though Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was not on the ground for the first two days, most of his cabinet ministers, including N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Ponguletti Srinivas Reddy, Tummala Nageshwar Rao and Deputy Chief Minister Malu Bhatti Vikramarka, were in action from day one.
The Chief Minister, on reaching the spot, kept a close watch on the flood situation and ensured that there was not too much loss of life due to the floods. Like Andhra Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, he personally oversaw the relief efforts.
But KCR was nowhere to be seen, with party leaders saying he should have taken the lead in reaching out to flood victims and taking the lead from the Congress.
“Had KCR taken action and gone out to the people and given them moral support, if not financial, then the situation in the party would have been different. He had a golden opportunity to expose the botched relief efforts by the Revanth Reddy government,” sources said.
But KCR refused to come out from his farmhouse and, even worse, did not even issue a statement expressing grief over the loss of lives and damage caused to the state by the floods.
“His absence has dampened the morale of party cadres and they are unable to attack the Congress government,” the source said.
