Hyderabad, April 07: Who is number 2 in the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS)? The person in the position keeps changing according to the whims and fancies of party chief K Chandrasekhara Rao.
A master strategist that KCR is, he brings to centre stage his nephew T Harish Rao at a time when there is resentment over the increasing role played by his son KT Rama Rao and daughter Kavita in the affairs of the party. When Harish Rao shows signs of becoming assertive, he eases him out and brings in either Rama Rao or Kavita or both.
In this musical chair game, Harish Rao will enjoy the most favoured person status for this season. This is on account of KT Rama Rao becoming controversial as he has penchant to throw his weight around and Kavita for intruding into the party affairs too often with her assertive personality.
When the TRS celebrated its 10th anniversary recently, Kavita was thousands of miles away in the US cooling her heels and KT Rama Rao was keeping a low profile while Harish Rao came to the fore with all his guns blazing.
At the delegates session in Mahaboobnagar, KCR’s nephew Harish Rao stole the show. With his ability in building case against the TDP and Congress with impeccable logic, Harish Rao became a darling for the TRS workers who turned up at the meeting.
Now Harish Rao has another responsibility on his shoulders which KCR chose to place. He would play a crucial role in strengthening the party from grass root-level by engineering defections from the Telugu Desam Party and demoralising the Congress to the extent that it would cause discomfiture to the party but at the same time would not push it to a corner which must result in damage to the objective of the party, realisation of separate Telangana. After KCR’s fast-unto-death programme in November-December 2009, his son Rama Rao became prominent in the party while his daughter Kavita was calling shots all the time outside the party. As both Rama Rao and Kavita’s stars were on the ascendency, Harish Rao saw the writing on the wall and began adopting a low profile. He gradually decreased the number of visits to KCR’s residence.
He was marginalised in the party and was confined to mobilising support for TRS among employees in the government and private sector companies. But the wheel seemed to have turned full circle recently.
In the elections to the legislative council, the TRS suffered a damage to its reputation with three MLAs voting for candidates other than the one that the TRS had fielded. The three MLAs, later had, said that they voted in accordance with the direction of Rama Rao which further dented the party’s image. Though the TRS chief suspended the three MLAs, the party is yet to come out unstuck on the issue and the Congress and TDP parties who were waiting for such an opportunity bayed for the TRS’ blood.
To salvage the image of the party, the TRS chief wanted to give a break to his son and daughter and bring in Harish Rao. “The number one in the party is always the TRS chief. The number 2 position keeps changing. Rao acts depending on the situation and does whatever is best for him and the party.
It does not mean he is sidelining his son and daughter. It is only part of a game for political expediency,” one TRS leader said.
–Agencies