Notwithstanding the twists and turns the cash-for-vote serial has been taking over the week quite expectedly, it is all set to peak into a game of political chess between the big two –Andhra Pradesh counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu and his Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhara Rao.
Both have not only openly challenged to see each other’s political end from public platforms, but also have been making deceptive and not- so- subtle moves, with a fair share of mindgame thrown in. In the coming days, people will see the interestingly poised round of the game unfold as the two political stalwarts reserve their smart moves for the day when Mr. Rao takes the final call on serving notice to Mr. Naidu.
If politically-savvy Mr. Rao thought he had successfully entrapped his political bête noire, TDP MLA, A. Revanth Reddy and punctured Mr. Naidu’s ego by leaking his alleged conversation with nominated TRS MLA, Elvis Stephenson, the story did not end there as he had expected. Down but not out, the wily Mr. Naidu is trying hard to turn the tables on his former protégé by turning the ugly episode into a classic case of ‘phone tapping’, an inter-State issue by making emotive self-respect appeal to five crore people of AP and queering the pitch on Governor maintaining law and order in a joint capital.
Clearly Mr. Naidu, who is in Delhi now, is lobbying for a lifeline from BJP-led NDA Government. If that happens, it would be interesting see Mr. Rao’s next move. Will Mr. Rao tone down a bit under pressure both from the Centre and from a powerful group in Telangana that is trying to give a caste angle to the trapping case?
Thanks to mind-blowing level of crafty politics, what appeared to be an open and shut case of political bribery last week now raises lot many questions leaving one wondering if the case would be taken to its logical end at all. Was it recording from Mr. Stephenson’s mobile phone or a case of “phone tapping” ? Was it Mr. Naidu’s voice or a doctored tape? If he sticks to his claim that it is not his voice, will Mr. Naidu take a lie detector test?
Similarly, if Mr. Revanth Reddy remains stubborn how will one find the “boss” and the source of Rs. 50 lakhs about to be passed on to Mr. Stephenson? Does sting operation stand legal scrutiny, even if it has official sanction? What would be the net outcome? Will those responsible for bribery be held accountable or let off through political manoeuvring?
Then some well-meaning people have raised the question of morality. If the YSRC and the Congress have demanded the head of Mr. Naidu, the TRS has settled for Mr. Revanth Reddy’s suspension from Assembly. But far from being remorseful and forgetting its own track record, the TDP is questioning the morality of these parties and recalling the poaching of its MPs in the past and MLAs now. If what happened last week is immoral, swearing in a TDP MLA, Talasani Srinivas Yadav as a Minister and then allow him to vote for the TRS in the recent MLC polls, moral ?, it asks. And what about the five TDP MLAs who were lured by the TRS ? How did the TRS having a strength of 63 got 85 votes in the recent MLC polls? And the list goes on.
Questions aplenty, but no easy answers as every political party is guilty of resorting to such immoral means, turn by turn, to shore up its strength and ward off the perceived threats.
The TDP itself has adopted it in full in the polls to the local bodies in AP, the target being the YSRC. It had no qualms taking on board two YSRC Lok Sabha MPs. So when the disease is spread across the political spectrum, expecting a political party to pick up the gauntlet and find a cure looks a bit like chasing a chimera. At best, there will be a political slugfest and name calling for some days and then it will be business as usual.
