The Mouna Deeksha (silent protest) of Congress senior leader and Rajya Sabha member Hanumanta Rao has stirred a serious discussion in Congress circles.VH has chosen Gandhi Bhavan, headquarters of the party to launch his protest. Still, there was no response from the Pradesh Congress President Botsa Satyanarayana for the Deeksha.Why has Botsa chosen to remain silent on the protest of his senior colleague?
In fact, senior Congress leaders had expected Botsa to go to Gandhi Bhavan and make him give up his protest. However the party chose to send the Deputy Chief Minister to VH to make him give up the protest.It is learnt that Botsa had discussed about VH’s protest in the privacy of his residence with party senior leaders including Mohd. Ali Shabbir. It is being said that it was decided in that meeting that Botsa should not go to VH as he had described the Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy as the covert of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. It was felt that if he went to Gandhi Bhavan and tried to make VH give up the fast, it would lead to other political speculations.
Several Congress leaders were stunned when VH, who is also the secretary of AICC called the Chief Minister a covert of Kadapa MP.This is the reason why some Congress MLAs have complained to the party high command that the Deeksha of Hanumantha Rao was an anti-party activity.
Hanumantha Rao has not grown as a leader despite his being in the good books of the Indira Gandhi family. Except for one term in the Assembly when he was made minister, he could never win a direct election. He was always sent to the upper house of Parliament meant for intellectuals, despite his not being very much educated. His lack of education and ability to speak in English deprived him of a berth in the central cabinet. However, T Anjaiah could become the Chief Minister and central minister with the same limitations. But he was a mass leader. He was seldom defeated in direct elections. This being the difference, Hanumantha Rao could neither become the Chief Minister nor the central minister. His growth stopped at becoming the PCC Chief once.
Not being able to assume any important role in the government, Hanumantha Rao has assumed the role of a permanent dissident. As long as Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy was alive, he remained a dissident. After his death, he started spewing venom at his son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. He is the man who has influenced the Congress high command that Congress should disown YSR and a tirade against Jagan would endear the party to the people. This formula of his has proved to be fatal and became the chief reason for the rout of Congress in the recent by-elections. Now VH has chosen to directly attack Kiran Kumar Reddy as he had simply done what he had to do as the Chief Minister – allow Vijayamma to exercise her constitutional right of visiting Sircilla in Karimnagar district.
