KCR Telangana CM
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao is weathering a storm like never before in the past six years. The Chief Minister who enjoyed an absolute honeymoon with media on his side and no opposition is now getting suffocated due to his Government’s inept handling of the Corona Crisis.

People are alarmed as Telangana’s testing rate pales in comparison to that of neighbors, including Andhra Pradesh while its mortality rate is much higher. The number of cases and deaths is increasing at a frenetic pace, and infections among doctors and healthcare staff are growing.

As if that is not enough, the Junior Doctors in Gandhi Hospital, the only designated COVID-19 Hospital in the state are on a strike saying that they are over-stressed and over-worked. They are demanding that Central forces should be deployed at the hospital and more COVID hospitals are to be added to reduce the load.

They allege that even they are not being tested despite some of them showing symptoms. The Government has decided to discharge Corona patients with no symptoms and also to treat people with mild symptoms at their homes. The Government also has done away with the mandated quarantine for railway passengers arriving in Telangana.

All these paints a very poor picture of the Government. The Chief Minister who courts the image of a tough taskmaster may find himself in a very uncomfortable situation if the crisis is not handled well. We can see anti-TRS trends on social media and if not for the Government-managed media, things would have been even worse.