Naidu, the wait and win maestro

 - D. Vishnumohan Rao

Mr Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the fourth time unanimous President of Telugu Desam Party and second time Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh is termed to be an expert in the technique of 'using a long stick even for a small snake'. All through right from day he took the reigns of state government in 1995, let us not get into the details of how, he exhibited his excellence in taking extreme control of his party and cadres.

Many a time he had proved himself captivating the opposition and minusculing them. He does not even bother to change his posture even when the party cadres and leaders raise their concerns about the 'sinking ship'. Very coolly, Naidu tells them “Wait and see… We will win." At the eleventh hour, with an amazing pace he makes his moves very comfortably and wins over the situation.

Personally for him or party wise for TDP, when everybody thinks that the situation is over the hill, his behaviour would be different and would be different from what his opponents and protesters expect from him. His specialisation lies in shutting down protesters from his party with their own hands (you can read as deeds also.) He is famous for getting things done in his own style and smile.

In 1999 during the Assembly election when Talasani Srinivas Yadav, a third grade leader came fore front as the Secunderabad legislator and threw an ‘open letter’ to the TDP supreme (Chandrababu Naidu), it shook the TD party. His comments proved that there is no smoke without a fire. Naidu never commented on the open letter issue and let the other leaders not comment on the topic.

There was an open discussion of support and instigation by few Telangana region leaders behind this letter. Domestic political analysts emphasised the role of senior leaders like Siddipet MLA, former minister, and former deputy speaker Chandra Sekhar Rao. They stressed that Talasani was threading dangerous waters when he did not know how to swim by heeding these leaders. Naidu did not even bat his eyes on this matter. He remained silent. He did not give out any statements, counter statements, or advertisements. His silence drew his party men and Talasani apart. A time prevailed when TDP leader could not gather courage to speak to Talasani. Finally, the unaddressed excommunication settled when Talasani ‘secretly’ apologised to the Supremo Naidu.

Long before the ripples of this open letter settled, another senior leader of the party Kalidindi Ramachandra Raju of West Godavari shot another “dissatisfaction letter” up in the party’s arm. The dissatisfaction came for this leader when Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao was provided a Cabinet seat. Kalidindi charged in his letter that Kotagiri put in maximum for his defeat in the elections. He further stated that his (Kalidindi’s) victory resulted out of his own ‘reputation' (can be read as money and hold) in the constituency. This scared some party members at that time. When everybody was wondering what would happen next, Chandrababu Naidu manipulated Kalidindi to give out a statement and ended his dissatisfaction.

Chandrababu Naidu passed a ruling that no one was to speak about “politics” until the next election. This directly dropped the curtains over dissatisfaction factor in the party, temporarily.

Strategies of Chandrababu almost gave no chance to the Opposition for mudslinging on the ruling party. When the situation demanded Chandrababu never spared the rod, be it on his own men or not. He gave credence to Politics that did not show difference between yours and mine. He believed that if these views are prevalent in a party there are chances of 'dissatisfaction' growing beside 'satisfaction'. The sprouting argument of the Opposition was snubbed in the budding stage by keeping his own brother Rammurthy Naidu away from active politics and affairs of the party. This is an example of the stiff and stringent policies of TDP supreme, the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.

Now, it was the turn of Telangana Rashtra Samithi founder leader K Chandra Sekhar Rao. The prime reason for the dissatisfaction of the former deputy speaker was the non-availability of berth in the 1999 Cabinet. Naidu tried to appease Chandra Sekhar with deputy speaker’s position. Chandra Sekhar was not appeased with this. He struggled for about two years attempting to gather supporters and sympathisers from within the party. After the painful and fruitless attempts, Chandra Sekhar jumped sides. Chandra Sekhar hoisted the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) flag and its agenda with a commitment to develop the backward Telangana region.

The Telangana roar of TRS from Karimnagar and Mahboobnagar spread vibrations in all the political parties, regional and national. However, there was no sign of any such vibration affecting the ruling party’s top brass Chandrababu Naidu. The ally and the opposition parties experienced major hit. TDP’s ally BJP and opposition Congress legislators openly supported the movement of TRS. Many members jumped party lines. While the BJP legislators directly approached Chandra Sekhar and took shelter, the Congress legislators were restricted to become paper tigers, as there was no clearance from the party’s high command.

Meanwhile on the Mahanadu dais, held on May 27, 28 and 29 at Visakhapatnam, Chandrababu Naidu took a clear stance against separate statehood for Telangana. From the same dais, he announced a special developmental package for the Telangana region. No party till now dared to speak up in this matter this way.

The coin spun by the TRS would result in a double advantage to the ruling party. Its not clear if its fright or regard for Chandrababu Naidu, but no one from the TDP has shown sympathy towards TRS. Reason? In the past, many Telangana leaders have tasted the action for separatism. These affairs ended because of the leader's selfishness. Though BJP and Congress have openly given their support for Telangana, the Communist duos have given there support indirectly.

With the view that these political situations help TDP indirectly, Chandrababu Naidu is continuing with his work. He is taking care of the business where in he can avoid finger pointing from the opposition, restlessness of the party workers and the party workers getting interested in TRS.

With these constantly changing political equations, Chandrababu Naidu is at peace with his "Wait and Win” policy.

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