Audio shock: Deafeningly silent

Exactly a year ago, our boys and girls from Vignana Jyothi Engineering College tragically met a watery grave in swollen Beas river in faraway Uttarakhand.

To bring back the survivors, the newly formed Telangana and Andhra Pradesh government's vied with one another. In fact, they quarelled in full view of the shocked media and the stunned public. The hapless students too were as shell shocked. 

A year after, one sees that there is no trace of bon homie among the two Telugu states. In fact, even the shaking of hands of the two Telugu CMs is making it to the headlines. The clash between the two CMs began with the division of assets and liabilities and extended to almost every concievable department. Be it Public Service Commission or the High Court division, division of employees, water use, department of power, higher education or even luring investors, the two CMs had wordy duels and the two governments fought bitterly, They even lodged complaints against each other with the Centre. 

Already, the people are getting disenchanted with these frequent face-offs. The public disapproval is all over the social media. What is the truth? Are Revanth tapes real? Whose voice was that? Who addressed Stephenson "Hello Brother?" Why are attempts being made to drag the people of the two states and why is the issue being converted into an AP vs Telangana stand-off? The people are raising their own questions and want the leaders to answer them. 

But, why did the whole episode unfold in the first place?  As in a famous Telugu fable about why an ant bit an infant, Chandrababu used the bait of the bribe to hook TRS MLAs. The problem is the baiter himself fell hook, line and sinker. Now, the baiter cannot claim that he has been deceived and cry  fowl. He was the one who started it all! 

Now, mum is the word for the baiter to queries like - why did you try to catch the fish, why did you offer the bail and why are you trying to drag the Telugu people into the whole muddle? The common man has nothing to do with this sordid saga. He did not speak to Stephenson. Nor does he have any links with Revanth Reddy? And why is Chandrababu shying away from any probe? Why are all those voices that get shriller demanding CBI probe into every other issue, deafeningly silent this tire around?