TRS chief Kalwakuntla Chandrasekhara Rao belongs to a rare breed of ‘gifted’ politicians. Not by virtue of a mass leader who can hold sway over the public with a magnetic pull. His clever thinking and deft moves in the political arena have made him the hottest man in the state now.

Even this strongpoint has its own weaknesses though. His impulsive decision-making had left him, on a few occasions in the past, with his foot in the mouth. It only revisited on Sunday when the temperamental TRS chief tried to woo Muslims with a 11-percent minority quota bait.

His idea was to pull a fast one and score better than the YSR promise of 4 per cent reservations. But in less than 24 hours, his decision proves to be ‘not-so-impressive’, thanks to the AP High Court’s decision quashing the four-percent quota.

Either because of his impulses or due to a team of bad advisors, the seasoned politician somehow failed to sense this one coming so soon from the judiciary. His promise, being check-mated by the judiciary so quickly, is not a good sign for his personal credibility. Although KCR had “promised to amend the requisite laws to facilitate the reservations” at the Muslim Telangana garjana, the High Court had clearly ruled out reservations on religious basis.

Now, KCR really needs to wear his shrewd cap put his oratory skills to best use to convince and win back the confidence of the Muslims folks.

It was not the first time an overzealous KCR had seen his game plan backfire. Soon after the five-phase polling for the general elections last year, KCR, then a part of the Grand Alliance, made a sudden U-turn and rubbed shoulders with the BJP and its like-minded parties. He thought he was among the first to sense an NDA-coalition forming the government at the Centre.

The ensuing results exposed KCR’s short-sighted vision in a big way and it took him a while to repair the damage and get closer to Sonia and other UPA allies again. Even his earlier decisions forcing resignations of his party MLAs and MPs to press for Telangana proved very costly for KCR. This shows that the senior politician is still not perfect at calling his shots at the right time.

But sources close to KCR feel that the family’s (read his children KTR and Kavitha also) timing is still unbeatable in promoting their personal interests and getting their things done!