KCR has come up with the perfect plan to make his son KTR, the crown prince in waiting as the de-facto CM of Telangana, through his 'Grama Jyothi' scheme which will be launched on August 17th.
Under this scheme, KCR intends to spend a whopping Rs 25000 to Rs 30000 crore in the next four years.
Each village will get Rs 2 crore to Rs 6 crore for development works under this scheme. So, what does this have to do with KTR?
Well, KTR is currently the Minister for IT and ironically, Panchayati Raj. The majority of the schemes under ‘Gram Jyothi’ will be implemented directly by the Panchayati Raj Ministry and the other schemes of this programme under various other Ministries also will have to function under the Panchayat Raj Ministry and appeal to it for permission and sanction of funds.
This will make KTR, the Minister of Panchayati Raj, the supreme head of all the Ministries and eventually, the ‘Gram Jyothi’ programme. Also, all programmes under various schemes are somehow being brought under the ‘Gram Jyothi’ umbrella.
For instance, KCR's pet scheme of distributing free two bedroom houses to the poor was originally supposed to be part of the housing ministry. But the responsibility of distributing houses in rural areas is being given to PR ministry under `Grama Jyothi' programme.
Similarly, purchase of 25,000 rickshaws for disposal of garbage was the prerogative of the municipal administration & urban development department which is now being shifted to the PR department under the programme.
Even retail liquor trade would be monitored at the mandal level and strategies to curb the menace of the illicitly distilled (ID) liquor will be part of the `Grama Jyothi'.
Naturally, a lot of resentment is brewing among the various Ministers of the TRS at this centralization of authority in KTR’s hands. How will Harish Rao respond to this? Will he also take KTR’s permission for everything from now on?
