Telangana Jana Samithi, the much-hyped political party of former Telangana Joint Action Committee chairman Prof M Kodandaram, appears to be moving one step forward and two steps backwards.
The party is yet to take off, despite the positive atmosphere prevailing among the people at the grassroots level.
Kodandaram, because of his personal image and an established network of the Telangana JAC, enjoys a lot of support among employees, students and farmers. But what is lacking is a strong leadership at every level.
None of the leaders who are now with Kodandaram has the financial and manpower strength to contest the elections. And there is no possibility of popular leaders with money and manpower joining the Telangana Jana Samithi right now.
At every meeting, the leaders are telling him that unless each candidate willing to contest the elections can spend at least Rs 2 to Rs 3 crore, there is no possibility of winning any seat.
Leaders like former MLC K Dileep Kumar have been advising Kodandaram to have negotiations with the Congress party to put up a joint fight in the elections, but he is not interested in it.
“The moment we talk about the alliance with the Congress party, the TJS will stop growing as a party and we will end up playing second fiddle to the Congress. So, let us not talk about alliances at present,” Kodandaram is telling the party leaders.
But the party has not taken up any concrete programme as such to build up the party.
“This is the era of giving hype and be among the people through various activities such as padayatra or bus yatra or holding public meetings. So far, there is no such move from Kodandaram. Except holding an occasional press conference, he has nothing else to do,” said a leader close to the party.
