The Telangana government now has the opportunity to put an end to all
the allegations made against it by the Opposition of "neglecting" the government employees in the state. With the Election Commission of India (EC) having given it the go-ahead for the implementation of a revised PRC for the employees today, the government will finally be able to make good on its assurances to them. A formal announcement regarding the same will likely be made soon.
The EC cleared the implementation after the KCR regime reportedly sought a clarification from the body on the matter keeping in mind the upcoming Nagarjuna Sagar by-election that will be held on April 17.
The commission responded to the query through a letter issued by EC Secretary Avinash Kumar. The letter said that the body had no objections to the implementation of the new PRC with respect to the Model Code of Conduct. However, it quickly added a caveat to the clearance saying that the PRC could only be announced if the ruling party did not use the announcement to gain "undue publicity" and "political mileage" through it ahead of the by-election.
After Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao promised the employees an enhanced fitment of 29% ahead of the recently-concluded MLC elections in the graduates' constituencies of Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam and Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy, many employees are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the same.
Since the announcement is likely to improve the prospects of the ruling party in the upcoming Nagarjuna Sagar by-election, one wonders how the leaders of the Opposition will react to the EC's decision.