Chenna Reddy was arguably in an advantageous position after winning
10 of 14 loksabha seats that they contested. In the upcoming state assembly elections,
his candidates would easily win many seats in the Nizam Telangana region.
Despite his position of strength, Chenna Reddy was now, more than
ever, eager to strike a deal with Mrs. Gandhi.The reason for his angst lay in
the political game of numbers.
Indira Gandhi won the mid-term elections with a huge majority and got
352 seats. She did not need the support of the 10 TPS MPs in the Parliament.
In the upcoming state assembly elections, even if Chenna Reddy won 70% or
more of the seats in the Telangana region, Congress was almost certain to win
by a landslide in the Kosta and Rayalaseema regions—thanks to the seeds of
hatred planted by the Telangana politicians. If that happened, TPS would be
confined to opposition in the state assembly and would become a no-name
party in the Parliament with its miniscule 10 seats.
For TPS leaders, if the Telangana state was not going to happen, they
did not want to sit around wasting their time with agitations. Instead, they
would rather be enjoying power in the Congress Party. Chenna Reddy and his
fellow TPS followers were in an interesting quandary. They knew that they
could win the elections by a landslide, yet they did not want to contest the
elections on their own party platform.
In this backdrop, Chenna Reddy went to Delhi for negotiations with
Prime Minister Gandhi. Several original TPS demands did not appear
anymore, as they either were fulfilled or were in the process of being fulfilled.
|
|
