Reddy is the spearhead of the Congress's aggressive campaign in the assembly elections. In fact, he is the one who turned it around for a party plagued by infighting and defection till a few months ago.
Reddy talks about his party's chances in the polls, the opposition and the key issues in the state. Excerpts:
Q/ Chief Minister KCR has criticised the Congress by evoking the Babri mosque demolition and the alleged communal riots and killings of naxals during Indira Gandhi's rule. How do you respond to that?
A/ He can go back to the time of freedom struggle and even beyond that and talk about monarchs. But what is the point of discussing it now? We have to learn from history and move forward. That is how politics and governance have evolved over time. People have judged the political consequences of this country, overcame it and made India the strongest democracy in the world. At a time when people want to know what KCR has done as chief minister, he is busy distorting facts and blaming the Congress. His behaviour shows that he has already accepted defeat.
Q/ How seriously will the issue of unemployment influence the polls?
A/ The PRC (Pay Revision Commission) constituted by this government gave a report that there were two lakh vacant government jobs. Whether it was in 1969 or 2009, the street agitations by students and the unemployed youth for a separate Telangana state centred on government jobs. When Telangana was created, the vacant jobs were one lakh, which has increased in the past 10 years and now stands at two lakh. For denying jobs to the eligible youth and destroying their lives, 30 lakh unemployed voters will throw out KCR.
Q/ It is natural for anti-incumbency to set in after nine years. Are the section of voters moving towards you anti-BRS or pro-Congress?
This story is from the December 03, 2023 edition of THE WEEK India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the December 03, 2023 edition of THE WEEK India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Angry, Young America
Campus protests against the Gaza war continue to linger as students demand a realignment of US ties with Israel
We need to engage more with communities
Designer Aratrik Dev Varman of the label Tilla has long been a lover of history. One could comfortably call him part-aesthete, part-archeologist, for his clothes dip into vintage styles of the Kutch, Sindh, Balochistan and Afghanistan, bringing alive antique styles and crafts. Tilla, the store and atelier, are situated on a tree-lined avenue in Ahmedabad.
The great luxury slowdown
A year or so ago, if anyone had told me that Tommy Hilfiger would have stolen the show at New York’s Met Gala, I would have laughed. But it seems the end of giant luxury labels is upon us even before we expected it. The American ready-to-wear designer Tommy Hilfiger seems to have created the maximum media buzz at the 2024 Met Gala, according to several data analytics firms.
RAP BRINGS RAPTURE
How indie artistes, especially hip-hoppers, are driving the phenomenal rise of Malayalam music
Employability issues are a narrative created by the corporate world
Prof Yogesh Singh is the 23rd vice chancellor of the century-old University of Delhi (DU). An engineer with a PhD in computer engineering, Singh has an impressive track record of teaching, innovation and research in the area of software engineering. He has more than 250 publications and his book, Software Testing, published by the Cambridge University Press, is well-received internationally. In an interview with THE WEEK, Singh talks about trends in higher education in India, the challenges faced by big universities, and how to make higher education more interesting. Asked about the perception that Indian graduates are “not employable”, he reacts strongly, and emphasises the difference between training and higher education. Edited excerpts:
SERVING WITH DISTINCTION
Conceived as a university like no other, Jawaharlal Nehru University became India's best. Here is how
Mandela Effect and Liar's Dividend
The complex tapestry of AI's impact on society
The other Sabyasachi
I am Sabyasachi Mukherjee, not to be confused with my namesake, the celebrated fashion couturier, declared the venerated director-general of Mumbai’s pride, George Wittet’s Indo-Saracenic jewel, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum.
THE MANGO HUNTERS
'Naadan Maavukal' started out as a Facebook group, but what it does offline has helped conserve many indigenous varieties of mangoes
BJP LEADERS, TOO, HAVE HAD ENOUGH
Farmers’ protest has taken the centre stage in Haryana, which goes to the polls on May 25. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is confident that the Congress, which has been out of power for 10 years, will regain its hold on the state. “People who voted for the BJP are disappointed today. It is clear that they want change,” he told THE WEEK.
