Parties doing ‘cuckoo’ act on T State

VV Balakrishna
First Published : 01 Jan 2010 03:59:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 01 Jan 2010 04:01:40 AM IST

HYDERABAD: Cuckoo, cuckoo, what do you do? In April I open my bill; In May I sing all day; In June I change my tune; In July away I fly; In August away I must.
Going by this rhyme, it can be said that political parties in the State have been doing nothing less than the cuckoo act on the question of Statehood for Telangana.
For many years, the Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had opposed the formation of Telangana tooth and nail. It had even sent a letter to the Pranab Mukherjee committee stating how "dangerous" it was to bifurcate the State.
Later, it changed tack and, with the zeal of a new convert, began pressing for a separate State, urging the Congress to introduce a resolution to that effect in the State Legislative Assembly.
But the December 9 statement of Union Home Minister Chidmabaram stunned the party into taking a U-turn. Then, perhaps realising the ridiculous position that it had landed itself in, the party took a half-U-turn -- adopting one position in the Andhra region and its diametric opposite in Telangana.
There was another twist of sorts with the TDP saying consultations were the only solution to the problem. But when the Centre did precisely that, inviting the parties for deliberations on January 5, the yellow party is now saying that it would be nothing but a time-consuming proposition. The Centre, it says, should introduce a Bill straightaway in Parliament and announce a time-frame for carving out a separate State.
``Introduce a bill in Parliament. Where is the need for talks now?'' asks TDP leader E Dayakar Rao.
No less unedifying was the flip-flop enacted by the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) which went back on its "Saamajika Telangana" slogan and is now plumping for "United Andhra".
That politics is a matter of expediency and very rarely of principle is borne out by this cynical remark from a TDP legislator: ``Politics are changing every minute. So parties take decisions accordingly.'' Well, that's how it goes with the cuckoos...