Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who marked his 65th birthday on Sunday with another grueling day of electioneering under scorching summer heat in Nalgonda district, is presently facing a do-or-die battle.
If he loses this fight, it will be the third consecutive election when he fails to lead the Telugu Desam Party to power, raising serious questions about his leadership and political ability.And if he wins, which many see as a strong possibility, he will then inherit a geographically truncated and financially weak State, world away from the Andhra Pradesh he ruled a decade back. Born to a poor family on April 20, 1950 in Naravari Palle village of Chittoor district, a post-graduate in economics from Sri Venkateshwara University, Naidu has come a long way. He started his political career with the Youth Congress in mid-1970s and was elected to Andhra Pradesh State Assembly in 1978 on the Congress ticket. Fortunes smiled on him when the then reigning demi-god of Telugu screen NT Rama Rao liked this young and promising politician as a suitable groom for one of his four daughters Bhuvaneswari.
Though Naidu is known to smell an opportunity and be at the right place at the right time, he failed in making the right move when he declined his famous father-in-law’s invitation to join the newly-launched regional party TDP in 1982. He lost the elections in 1983 when the Congress was badly decimated by the TDP. However a great survivor, Naidu, joined the TDP and soon became a reliable confidante and right hand of NTR.
After being with NTR through thick and thin for almost a decade, and organising the famous “Save Democracy Movement” in 1984, when NTR was dismissed by Indira Gandhi regime in New Delhi, Naidu left NTR after he married the second time in 1993 and his wife lakshmi Parvathy emerged as the real power behind the throne.
Other angry family members retaliated by joining hands with Naidu in the famous coup of 1995, which saw ousting of NTR and Naidu took over both the Government and the party.
He led TDP to famous victories in 1996, 1998 and 1999 lok Sabha and one Assembly election and played a pivotal role in the formation of United Front and BJP-led NDA Government over the next eight years. He also earned the distinction of ruling the State for the longest tenure of two terms.
But since the debacle of 2004, the lady luck was yet to smile on him. This election is also marked with the debut of Naidu’s only son Nara lokesh Babu as a campaigner, if not a contestant while his wife Bhuvaneshwari heads the family business. As Naidu has once again hit the roads to seek support from the people, he is finding the political landscape completely changed. With the bifurcation of the State, in which TDP’s role was ambiguous, if not dubious, at least one part —Telangana — appears to be out of reach for his party.
Though he still talks of the TDP ruling both Telangana and Andhra, in these elections Naidu’s fight is essentially confined to Seemandhra, which will become the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh from June 2. In this part of the State, TDP along with its ally the BJP, Naidu is locked in a fierce battle with a new party YSR Congress of Jaganmohan Reddy.
While the last three elections in the State from 1999 till 2009 had seen no-holds-barred fight between two old rivals Naidu and YS Rajasekhara Reddy of the Congress party, this time it is YSR’s son who is challenging Naidu. Seemandhra’s politics has dramatically altered in many ways over the last five years. YSR, who had led Congress twice, was sourly missed by his family and supporters. He died in an air crash in September 2009.
The Congress, however, is simply been washed away by the public anger unleashed by its decision to separate Seemandhra from Telangana. Naidu’s campaign strategy essentially hinges on corruption and development. He blames both the Congress and Jaganmohan Reddy for the rampant corruption in the State during last five years. “A vote for Jagan is a vote for corruption”, he warns the electorate reminding them that Jagan had spent 16 months in jail for his alleged involved in various scams.
Promising of developing Seemandhra in to a “golden State” of progress and prosperity, growth and opportunity, Naidu says that only he had the ability to build a world-class capital city for the new State. “It was me who developed Hyderabad to what it is today. It was me who put Hyderabad on the international map as an IT hub. It was me who developed the world-class infrastructure including an International Airport”, Naidu tells his election rallies. His promises for the future include bullet trains. Giving an emotional touch to the campaign, he charges the Congress of pitting Telugu brothers against each other by dividing the State and promises to keep them united as people. However, it is not just development which he is relying on to woo the voters as he remembers what a heavy price he had to pay for opposing welfare schemes and populist promises of YSR in 2004.
Naidu, who was variously called, hi-tech Chief Minister, the CEO of AP Inc., the brain behind the IT revolution, the reformist and the poster boy of World Bank during his rule, now lays emphasis on empowerment of the weak and reforms with a human face. The man who had once famously said, “there is no free lunch” has now promised to increase free electricity to farmers to nine hour from the present seven hours and also waive the debt of the farmers and women self help groups. Though Naidu had turned populist before 2009 polls but such promises had failed to cut the ice because of low-level of credibility.