Opinion: Lack of transparency, reason for Jagan problems

The massive turnout of Andhra Pradesh state government employees for the Chalo Vijayawada rally called by the PRC Sadhana Samithi demanding revoking of the GOs on pay revision is certainly a major embarrassment to chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The fact that thousands of employees could come on to the streets and bring the normal life in Vijayawada to a grinding halt for hours, despite stringent restrictions by the police and threatening by the senior officials shows something has gone wrong with the strategy of the chief minister.

The main reason for this kind of situation is lack of transparency on the part of Jagan Mohan Reddy. No doubt, he had got the huge mandate from the people but he cannot take everything for granted in running the administration.

Nobody would deny the fact that the financial position of the state is pretty bad and the government is not in a position to fulfil the demands of the employees for a hefty pay hike. But the chief minister has failed to take up the responsibility in explaining the same to the employees and the people.

Instead, he left it to his advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and a couple of ministers, besides chief secretary Sameer Sharma. At the same time, his party social media wing tried to show the employees’ agitation in poor light.

Had the chief minister come into the media and given an explanation directly to the employees and the people, it would have had a different impact. But Jagan preferred to remain indoors of his Tadepalli residence.

Even with regard to the issue of cinema ticket rates issue, Jagan maintained the same stand. He chose to drag the issue for months together, leading to some kind of uneasy atmosphere between the government and the Telugu film industry.

On the three capitals issue, too, Jagan failed to do proper homework before coming out with the decision. Apparently, he did not discuss have any serious discussions with any of his cabinet colleagues on the three capitals issue and announced it all of a sudden.

Analysts say he should have thrown the three capitals issue for public debate, assess the pros and cons, analyse its legal implications and take the consent from the people before arriving at the decision. His unilateral decision without any transparency led to the problems and he had to beat a retreat in the state high court.

“Jagan should learn to be more open and more amenable to discussions on any important issue. He should be accessible to media as frequently as possible, so that his voice is heard and his thinking is debated in the public. It should not be a one-sided thinking,” the analyst added.