Friday, August 12 2005 11:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hyderabad: A little more than a year after Congress bounced back to power, the political dynamics in Andhra Pradesh is poised for a change with the alliance between Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ending and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) pulling out of Rajsekhar Reddy Government while Left parties have taken the TDP stand on Telangana State issue.

This has set the stage for coming municipal polls for which campaigning is picking up with all major political parties hitting the streets, holding rallies and public meetings, on a regular basis.

Reservation for Muslims has been the punch line for Congress and Telugu Desam while BJP, which has decided to go it alone in the poll, vehemently opposed the move.

Going a step further, Chief Minister Y S Rajsekhar Reddy announced recently that his party may also consider giving five per cent reservation to Muslim candidates in the ensuing civic polls.

TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu quickly joined the bandwagon offering a similar percentage of reservation for Muslims and the two leaders are busy crisscrossing the state with promises, allegations and counter allegations.

The picture of poll fever is complete with TRS launching a Telengana Jagarana Sena (TJS), with an estimated membership of one lakh people, to pursue the cause of a separate Telengana State while BJP stepped up its attack on TRS for sharing power with United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at Centre and resigning in the state.

The municipal elections have to clear many legal tangles, including BC quota, verification of voters' list, besides any new contingency, including legal scrutiny of some of the decisions taken by the new Congress Government.

The TDP's refrain in all its rallies has been that the outcome of the elections is being viewed as an opinion poll on the 14-month 'misrule' of Congress Government.

The TRS, on the other hand, is placed in a piquant situation. The leadership did not announce anywhere that the party would be going it alone in the poll while Congress maintains that TRS is an election ally despite the resignations of six ministers.

Chandrababu Naidu has been touring Telangana districts for the past few days, highlighting the 'failures' of Rajsekhar Reddy Government while the Chief Minister has been constantly in touch with villages through his mass contact programmes like 'Rajiv Palle Bata, Rajiv Nagara Bata.'

The state's political dynamics may change with Telangana, irrigation and Muslim reservations being the ideological issues dominating the campaign canvas, having the potential to recast the political alignment in the state.

While TDP, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) oppose separate statehood for Telangana on the grounds that development was possible only in an integrated mould, Congress is bidding time, stating that it would adhere to the Second State Reorganisation Committee (SRC) recommendations.

BJP, which sailed with TDP till recently, is taking time to adjust to its changed tune and political lexicon after former BJP Mahila Morcha President and film star Viajyashanthi had quit the party to fight for the cause of Telengana and started her campaign from Warangal which drew huge crowds.