Hyderabad: “It may be that politics is silly; so are the politicians”

During the Second World War, a meeting was reportedly held between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, in which Hitler tells the Italian Supremo that the sins committed by the two of them would prove very costly for them after death.

Let’s pick the above allegory, parallel the same with the ongoing polemics between CBN, the Zindathilsmath of Andhra ailments and KCR, the Mahatma of Telangana as a barb against them to paraphrase that the political sins being committed by these two political eccentrics are definitely proving to be costly for the Telugu people, if not to them, even as the two leaders indulge in unethical polemics.

The biggest message one can learn from the ongoing slugfest between the Heads of these two Telugu states was how too much power concentrating on individual leaders, the operation of coteries, the lack of internal democracy and the air of sycophancy can dismantle democratic institutions and people’s constitutional rights.

The axe forgets, but the tree remembers.

This African proverb best explains the current plight of Nara Chandrababu Naidu, self-styled “Mr. Clean”, who has been facing the toughest battle of his political life. One more push by KCR, his bête noire, Babu’s applecart will be grounded.

CBN, the axe might have forgotten, but KCR, the tree seemed to be still fuming with vengeance on how CBN axed him from his cabinet and how he had ill-treated him as a person of little importance.

So, it’s time for KCR the ambitious to settle the old score with CBN.

When an unpredictable maverick like CBN, blessed with powerful friends in legal and political echelons, faced with equally powerful enemies who are waiting to settle old scores, gets into trouble, the whole discourse has the potential to unfold into an unethical political saga where conspiracy theories and counter-tactics become inevitable.

It’s not a suspense political thriller of whodunit genre, on the face of it, CBN the master tactician is in big trouble of his life, as he is caught red-handed in the cash for vote scam, thanks to his misadventure of directly involving himself, as is being made out by his purported voice in the audio tapes.

The problem with CBN is that when he is panic stricken, he chucks diplomacy, patience and savoir-faire out of the ethical window. And as is the case, he has been taking unexpected U-turns, clutching weak straws and projecting an ensanguine picture of himself.

There is a theory within the TDP circles that cash for vote scam is just collateral damage in the current controversy. The real aim is to scuttle all the enthusiasm of CBN to make his son Lokesh his political heir.

There are enough hints of the proactive role played by Nara Lokesh who had become a de-facto Chief Minister, and wherein he himself built a coterie of his own who began to draw political strategies.

Stories abuzz that CBN is giving lot of weight to the political opinion of Lokesh and his bunch of crony capitalist gang and in the process he is missing the sanguine advice of his seasoned colleagues who feel sidelined.

As things appear the proactive role and extra-constitutional presence of Lokesh in the party affairs is silently being dissented by sane voices within the party and they see an opportunity in the present predicament CBN is going through to push him into a helpless situation, so that their time will come to trap CBN at his own game.

The snowballing effect of all these is showing in the way CBN erred in almost every move made by him the worst one being Telangana MLAs outburst that they were being harassed by KCR to join his party for the last six months! .

They came up with this latest gimmick a fortnight after the whole drama of the scam unfolded.

What happened to all the smart political thinking that the CBN was known for, one cannot stop pulling one’s hair in disbelief?

On the other hand, CBN seemed to have not found the desired support from Modi, which rather disheartening for both CBN and his supporters. As things stand, Modi had not said a word about the raging controversy between the fledgling states. That silence likely speaks volumes.

CBN's relations with  Narendra Modi have been cordial for all appearances, but they share a bitter history, in which at one point CBN had even sought the suspension of Modi, as Chief Minister of Gujarat accusing him of masterminding 2001 riots, he in fact withdrew support to Vajpayee led NDA accusing it of communal conspiracy. Modi is clever enough to understand CBN’s chameleon character.

With his direct role in the cash for vote scam, as being evidenced in the audio tape, CBN had begun to symbolize everything he stood against. During elections he roared against corruption and immoral practices in politics.

The crisis in which he is trapped today makes a mockery of the image he built around.

The present controversy is an embodiment of all that the he railed against.

No wonder, CBN and his team have preferred meaningless cover ups that was meant to confuse and obfuscate and to defend his image being dented they even went a step ahead to show the controversy as an issue of between the people of the two states.

As he had run out of people to defend him and in his grim battle for survival he came up with a demand for implementation of section 8 of AP Re-organization Bill under the pretext of safe guarding and protecting the rights of Andhra people living in Hyderabad.

But, whether section – 8 is really meant to protect all those who indulge in bribery and corruption or it has something else inherent in it?

Only CBN, the desperate, “who is caught in his own game” can answer.