Former minister Eatala Rajender, who switched over to BJP last week after falling out of the grace of TRS leadership was associated with the pink (the colour of TRS party flag) party for over 18 years and leaving behind the experience of the entire journey with the TRS might have been difficult for him even after joining the saffron party. Speaking to newspersons at Huzurabad on Saturday, he inadvertently spoke of the pink flag, albeit by slip of tongue. Although he corrected himself within moments of stating that the pink flag would fly high in Huzurabad constituency, it proved the adage ‘Old habits die hard’ one more time. The “pink” colour seems to be still in his subconsciousness even after severing ties with it for all practical purposes.
An ‘unsavoury’ trend
The resignation of Eatala Rajender from his MLA post before joining BJP formally has been an unusual trend in the State since the days of combined Andhra Pradesh, at least from 2004. Mr. Rajender is the first legislator to quit his elected post before switching loyalties to a party other than on which he was elected, since 2004. Although it may not have any repercussions in the immediate future, it could prove a thorn in the flesh for those who plan to switch sides politically at least in future. There are umpteen examples of legislators of one party switching over to another, particularly the ruling party, after 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2018 elections to Assembly and none of them quit their elected post, citing one reason or the other. However, Mr. Rajender’s move is likely to have a definite bearing on Telangana politics in the years to come, particularly for those who seek to switch loyalties from one party to another.
Relaxation apprehensions
The relaxation of lockdown restrictions has come as breather for the people who had to put up with limited activities since past few weeks. But the relief has become equally worrisome for some sections of the medical fraternity. Reason, the ongoing marriage season. People had confined themselves to weddings with limited attendance since the onset for COVID-19 more than a year ago, but with exceptions. Whether the same spirit would be visible with complete lifting of restrictions is the question doing rounds now as several hundreds of marriages are lined up to coincide with auspicious muhurats before commencement of Ashaada masa in July second week.
B. Chandrashekhar and
M. Rajeev
