Sycophancy has become an integral part of politics these days. Leaders and cadres of a political party go to any extent to please their bosses by praising them for posts and positions.
Such praises by the sycophants might be pleasing to the ears of the bosses, but they might sometimes prove counter-productive and might even ruin the prospects of those parties. The bosses should always be wary of flattery by such sycophants.
Take the case of Rajya Sabha member R Krishnaiah, who is presently in the YSR Congress party. Till December 2018, this OBC leader was in a Telugu Desam Party MLA from L B Nagar in Telangana. He got the TDP ticket by showering praises on Naidu describing him as the messaiah of the BCs.
After the TDP lost power in Andhra Pradesh in 2019 elections, he quietly distanced himself from the party and suddenly grabbed the Rajya Sabha ticket in Andhra Pradesh, by pampering YSRC president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. Now, he has started praising Jagan as the true leader of BCs.
On Wednesday, Krishnaiah went to extreme lengths to please Jagan, while participating in the Jai Ho BC Mahasabha at Vijayawada.
He said people of other states were demanding that they, too, want their parts to be merged with Andhra, after seeing the welfare schemes of Jagan Mohan Reddy.
“The other day, I held a meeting at Belgaum (Belagavi) in Karnataka. The crowds from Belgaum demanded that their district be merged with Andhra Pradesh, especially the villages on the borders. When I asked them the reason, they said they were impressed by the Jagan government,” Krishnaiah said.
He said the BCs of Belgaum were attracted by the empowerment programmes of the Jagan government.
“Thousands of BCs have become sarpancehs, MPTCs and other positions in AP. So, we, too, will get the same if Belgaum is merged with Andhra, so that we, too, get the posts and schemes,” Krishnaiah said, quoting the Belgaum people.
This is nothing but height of sycophancy. Belgaum is a district on the borders of Maharashtra and Karnataka on the western side and had no connection whatsoever with Andhra Pradesh. So, how would Krishnaiah expect the people of Belgaum know anything about Jagan government?
Secondly, Belgaum is at the centre of the territorial dispute as Maharashtra has been claiming that this Marathi-majority area was wrongly given to Kannada-majority Karnataka in the language-based reorganisation of states in the 1960s.
Karnataka recently renewed its claim over some villages in Maharashtra, igniting a fresh round of acrimony even as both states have the same party, the BJP, in power. For the last few days, the border areas are witnessing violent protests from both the sides.
So, it would be better if Krishnaiah had done some homework before making statements, just to praise Jagan. Maybe, he was trying to refer to Bellary, which is on the borders of AP and Karnataka. That would have made some sense!
