Amid the frequent open infighting within the Congress party, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has recalled the advice given by late Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy not to trouble the party.
Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy, a towering personality in the Congress from the 80s till his death in 2009, was known as a rebel of a sort not hesitating to take on the mighty within the party in undivided Andhra Pradesh. But, his unsuccessful race to lead the party to power in 1999 and finally succeeding in 2004 taught him a lot of lessons, his party colleagues recall.
Mr. Bhatti, a close camp follower of the former Chief Minister from the day he was hand-picked by late YSR to become an MLC in 2007 has never looked back while climbing the political ladder.
In an interview to The Hindu at the imposing Jyothirao Phule Praja Bhavan, which was the official residence of the previous CM K. Chandrashekhar Rao, Mr. Bhatti went down memory lane recalling his association with the late YSR. It was late Rajasekhara Reddy, who ensured that the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh had an official residence and constructed one close to the Praja Bhavan (earlier Pragati Bhavan).
“We used to frequent the official camp office of late YSR. One thing, he always used to tell us never to trouble the party. I had committed minor mistakes and it took me 25 years to overcome those errors,” Mr Bhatti recalled Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy telling a training programme of Congress MLAs in MCRHRD Institute during his first stint as the CM.
The Deputy CM, whose maiden stint was as an MLC in 2005 saw him getting into the good books of YSR saw to him becoming the Chief Whip. There was no looking back after winning the 2009 Assembly elections from Madhira in Khammam district, rising to become the Chief Whip and then Deputy Speaker of the AP Legislative Assembly.
After bifurcation, Mr. Bhatti won the 2014 election to become the Leader of the Opposition in 2018-19, Congress Legislature Party leader and to assume charge as the fourth Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana in 2023.
Sixty-two-year-old Bhatti remembers getting early morning calls from late YSR at 4.30 am where he would discuss the day’s issues to be raised when the Assembly was on. “It was fun and inspiring to work under such a towering personality,” he said adding that he had left such a mark among all the Congress leaders and cadres.
“He is remembered in every aspect and every decision he had taken for the benefit of the people. We all are in public life and only work for the public,” was his motto, Mr. Bhatti recalled.
Terming him a matchless leader, Mr. Bhatti says if Congress was not there country would have suffered a lot. “Congress is the only solution for the miseries,” he said pointing out the party would always remember his vision and commitment towards the have-nots. “All the welfare programmes conceived by him were taken to the saturation level,” he remembered.
“We were lucky to train under his leadership and he was indeed a true leader,” Mr. Bhatti concluded.
