How bad humour turned Balaram into Telangana 'Khal' Naik...!

Politicians, who often indulge in dumb-witted humour and bizarre claims, are like those ‘Friendly Neighbourhood’ elders. They always have a piece of unsolicited advice for others and a pat on their own backs…! These men of ‘whimsical wisdom’ are oblivious to their follies until a day when their ill-timed antics bring them on to their knees.

The latest one to receive this rude awakening was former Union minister and senior Congress leader Balaram Naik. The ex-MP from Warangal district is a ‘sulking soul’ since the time he was handed a humiliating defeat in the last Lok Sabha polls. Seething in anger, Naik chose the Congress party-sponsored ‘Rythu Bharosa Sabha’ in Warangal district on Fridayto vent his frustration over the electorate. There were no smokescreens for his angst: His words and behaviour were as harsh and boorish, as they can…!

Not happy with it, he made even more stunning comments, this time only to have the entire galaxy of Congress leaders and cadre hang their heads in shame. As they watched him helplessly, Naik went on to brag that Warangal district would be merged with Andhra Pradesh if the electorate did not vote for the Congress next time…!

One is not sure if Naik was on a suicide mission or his outbursts were simply out of impulse. But they certainly came in as a huge embarrassment for a party that is desperately looking for ways to neutralise the TRS’ clout in the newly formed Telangana. Long known for his ‘foot-in-the- mouth’ disease, Naik definitely ranks high in the Congress ‘Hall of Shame’. Knowing its leader and his flip-flop public behaviour, the Congress party would be more forgiving on any other day. But his choice of occasion on Friday and the words going against Telangana, a sentiment that is overwhelming even today, is becoming highly unpalatable for the Congressmen.
Driving themselves into a damage-control mode, they are worried about the fallout of the incident and its impact on the party’s revival in the state. Naik’s anti-Telangana public-posturing is an irony of sorts, coming in Warangal which is regarded as the heartland of the erstwhile separatist movement; it came ahead of the united opposition’s bandh plans to expose the TRS commitment to stem the tragic spate of farmer suicides; and more painfully, he used his rancour against the electorate at a meeting, actually aimed at instilling courage in the farmers and bring them back to the Congress fold.

Naik’s ‘sacrilegious act’ obviously comes as a ‘God-send’ for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Without having to break a sweat, the ‘Pink Party’ now finds enough ammunition in it to turn the tide on the Congress. There are calls already from a few TRS big guns to target every Congress leader worth his salt across the state and expose them as the “real adversaries” of the Telangana cause.

If these threats hold good, then the Naik cauldron will not be the one to die down so soon. And the former Union minister can blame no one else, if he finds his political future hanging by its thinnest of threads…!

Durga Prasad Kanamaluru