The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is ruling the roost in Telangana. With an ineffective Opposition, the TRS is marching ahead without anyone to stop or censure them.
The success of the party can be attributed to the fact that it is governed with an iron hand, with just the chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, his son K T Rama Rao and sometimes, nephew T Harish Rao being the face of the party.
None among the other ministers or for that matter the MLAs are heard or being talked about. The chief minister has asked the MLAs to remain in their constituencies – to work for the people. And it is for this reason he is building them all new houses at their constituency head quarters.
It is also no secret that KCR conducts internal surveys to keep track of the popularity of the legislators at grassroots level. While at the ground level there are a lot of grumbles, it goes unnoticed and unheard as the ruling party continues to march and rise in popularity, at least as per one of such recent surveys.
The survey shows that while KCR has improved in his rating along with finance minister Etela Rajender and KCR's nephew and irrigation minister T Harish Rao, the losers this time are IT Minister K T Rama Rao and energy minister G Jagadish Reddy, both of whom were placed well in the previous survey.
While the survey is one way of keeping the legislators on the leash, KCR finds its effective use as a carrot. He uses these surveys to pull up ministers. With rumours rife that a reshuffle of the Cabinet is in the offing, those not toeing the line or perceived to be not working, will probably see the door.
It is said that KCR was unhappy with about 40 per cent of the MLAs whose performance rating was low. I am not at all satisfied with the mediocre performance of some of the MLAs. Same is the case with some ministers. Those who are at the bottom of the performance ladder should improve their rankings in the coming days. Else, they will be shown the door,” Rao warned.
Yet, the chief minister seemed to be positive about his party. “No doubt, our party will win 101 to 106 seats if the elections are held, now. As per the current trend, in the 2019 polls, we will not only retain power but also win more seats and marginalise the opposition parties,” he told party colleagues.
With the budget session beginning on March 13, KCR asked his colleagues to be well-prepared to answer all questions raised by the Opposition. KCR said, “We are doing well… but we are not telling the people about our work.”
