TRS AT THE CROSS-ROADS

Hyderabad, December 3 (INFA):  The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in Andhra Pradesh is passing through a critical phase.  Its movement for a separate Telangana State is at the cross-roads.  Dissidence and the imminent split in the party are likely to accelerate its downslide in coming months. 

With ex-Congressmen, led by former Minister S. Santosh Reddy on a warpath against the TRS leadership, the factions of former Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and ex-BJP leaders are expected to rally behind K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).  For the time being, both the leaders have to forget their differences and game of one-upmanship as the common threat is to their stewardship of the party.

The dissensions, which came to the fore in the wake of the TRS decade in civic elections recently, have led to a virtual split with Santosh Reddy raising a banner of revolt against Chandrasekhar Rao, questioning the latter’s style of functioning.

“KCR is behaving like a dictator in the name of imposing discipline.  One cannot see this type of dictatorship even in Pakistan. His attitude is causing concern among those championing the cause of a separate State.  It is a one-man show in the TRS”, Santosh Reddy grumbled.

Holding them solely responsible for the party’s dismal performance in the municipal elections, the dissident leader also took exception to the continuance of Chandrasekhar Rao and Mr. Narendra in the Union Cabinet even while forcing the resignation of six TRS ministers from the Rajasekhar Reddy Cabinet in July this year.  Santosh Reddy, who has not reconciled to this forcible resignation from the State Cabinet at the firman of Chandrasekhar Rao, apparently does not want to take things lying down any further.

Andhra Pradesh’s chequered history shows that ambitious men who were spurned by their respective party leadership tried to change the course of State politics.  It will be recalled Nadendla Bhaskar Rao, whose claims to Chief Minister’s post were ignored twice by Congress leadership, joined forces with NTR to launch TD in 1982.   Similarly, Chandrasekhar Rao embarked on the separate Telangana plank after Naidu ignored his claim to a Cabinet berth. 

Had these two leaders been treated with decorum and tact by their respective leadership, two political movements in the State could well have been averted.  Now, the three men with unbridled ambitions and egos are seeking to get the better of one another.

POST OFFICE INSURANCE FUND

Hyderabad, December 3 (INFA):  The Ministry of Finance will no longer offer special deposit rate for the amounts deposited in the Post Office Insurance Fund (POIF) and the Rural Post Office Insurance Fund (RPOIF). 

The Department of Posts has thus made its own arrangements to invest these funds. As per the present agreement, incremental accretions under PLI and RPLI from April next, has to be invested as per IRDA Investment regulations.

The existing corpus under POIF and RPOIF would be frozen as on March 31 next and each year one third of it will be converted into dated securities commencing Apri1 l. One third of these funds in the POIF and RPOIF will need to be invested by the Department. 

The Department is currently in the process of putting in place a structure and mechanism to undertake these investments. It will be assisted in this regard by a professional consultant.---INFA.