Hyderabad: As it is oft heard in Hyderabad these days, that Andhra Pradesh before partition was like a 'Hindu undivided family', but after the split, it looks like a Hindu divided family, the new state of Telangana and the residuary state Seemandhra are fighting over property and almost everything. Telangana will come into existence on June 2.
The Centre is overseeing the division of assets and liabilities between the two states. But, the first chief minister-elect of Telangana, K Chandrashekhara Rao of the TRS and the would-be chief minister of Seemandhra, N Chandrababu Naidu of the TDP, are fighting like two brothers who have just split their ancestral property.
KCR, who is known as the 'Father of Telangana', is adamant that not a single employee from Seemandhra should be allowed to work in Telangana after June 2. He is issuing daily warnings and even accusing Naidu of playing dirty tricks. Naidu has rubbished these allegations saying that KCR is behaving like an enemy nation, not like a ruler of the neighbouring state.
KCR-Naidu enmity is quite old. It is a known fact that the break-up in their friendship resulted in the Telangana movement and finally led to the creation of Telangana.
KCR, who started his political career in the Congress under Sanjay Gandhi joined the TDP in 1983 as one of its founding members. He won four consecutive Assembly polls from Siddipet on the TDP ticket between 1985 and 1999. He even helped Naidu to unseat his father-in-law and chief minister NT Ramarao in 1995.
He was a Cabinet minister in the Naidu government in the late 1990s. In 1999, Naidu made him deputy speaker of the Assembly ignoring his seniority and stature. A humiliated KCR swore revenge and quit TDP in 2000 to float his own Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Rest is history.
Both the TDP and the TRS workers agree that if there was no rift between KCR and Naidu, there would not have been a separate Telangana state at all.
KCR, who won't easily forget and forgive, is using this opportunity to settle scores with Naidu. He won't miss even a single opportunity to remind Naidu that he is an 'outsider' and has no business in Telangana.
A cornered Naidu is trying to keep his blood pressure under check and tries to ignore KCR's barbs.
Before bifurcation, the government employees who hail from Telangana always felt that they were being treated like step children by the powerful Seemandhra lobby. They are now adding fuel to the fire by launching a no-holds barred attack on the TDP which has come to power in Seemandhra.
According to local leaders, the fight between KCR and Naidu is likely to continue for many more years to come.
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