It was a bittersweet moment in uncertain political times for Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The TDP Leader and three-time Chief Minister of Andhra, N Chandrababu Naidu expressed his joy and gratitude a fortnight ago in New Delhi at the unveiling of a special, commemorative ₹100 coin in memory of the trail-blazing late TDP founder and multi-talented Tollywood actor and filmmaker, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao popularly known as NTR. Back in 2000, the Government of India released a commemorative stamp in honour of N T Rama Rao’s impressive achievements and the veneration which he is held by Telugu-speaking people all over the world.
NTR’s Legacy
The ceremony held on August 28, included an address by President, Droupadi Murmu and the unveiling of the special coin in honour of the legendary NTR in his birth centenary year. NTR was and continues to be a beloved, well-respected screen hero and real-life leader for the Telugu masses. Earlier this year, members of the NTR family and the TDP held grand celebrations to mark his birth centenary in Hyderabad and Vijayawada. Smaller-scale celebrations were held in several towns and villages across Andhra and Telangana by ordinary Telugu people, who continue to cherish his memory and recall his cinematic and political achievements, even twenty-seven years after his death.
NTR was a rare man of many achievements, highly regarded and still talked about at gatherings of politicians, the film industry and ordinary households across the Telugu states that remember him for the honest, honorable man, actor, and politician that he was. He was the first Telugu non-Congress person that showed the Telugu people, a different side to politics than the typical Congress-style politics they had put up with, since the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956. He single-handedly challenged Indira Gandhi and the entire Congress party, started a brand new political party from scratch, in less than a month, and won a massive landslide electoral victory. Indira and A.P’s Congress leaders were shamed and shocked at the sheer scale of NTR’s victory. Andhra Pradesh had for the very first time in its history, experienced non-Congress rule with the advent of N T Rama Rao and his Telugu Desam Party.
The BJP’s gesture of recognition and honour of a larger-than-life regional leader comes at a time when it is still weighing in on a possible future partnership with the TDP. The BJP does not have a significant presence in Andhra Pradesh but is in an advantageous position to choose its electoral partner in the state as the principal parties in the fray, the YSRCP and the TDP (as well as the relatively new JSP) are wooing the BJP for support or an electoral tie-up ahead of next year’s state and national elections.
NTR’s birth centenary celebrations and honorary recognition of the TDP’s founder is a bitter-sweet moment for the current leadership (headed by Naidu) as its open offer of partnership is still “under consideration” by the BJP’s central leadership even after several months of courtship. The people of Andhra will cast their ballots for both the national and state elections before June next year. Hence, it is a time-sensitive issue for the BJP which is in the process of carefully considering the current political situation in Andhra Pradesh – political pundits as well as amateur analysts with ears to the ground, continue to be uncertain about which party, has an edge in next year’s dual elections. It is speculated to be a close call between the current YSRCP dispensation and the previous TDP administration.
Both parties are running tight campaigns, leaving nothing to chance in a desperate bid to return to power. The newer Jana Sena Party (JSP) is keen on an alliance with the TDP and the BJP. Its leader, Tollywood actor Pawan Kalyan has urged the BJP leadership to consider a three-way partnership with the TDP and the JSP implying a break in the BJP’s current relationship with the YSRCP. The BJP is wary of letting go of a politically unlikely and even mildly awkward yet comfortable relationship that it currently enjoys with the YSRCP which has thus far, unquestioningly and unfailingly offered dependable outside support for all of the BJP’s decisions, propositions, bills, and laws at the central level. The state-level BJP unit however, is often seen at odds with the YSRCP whose social and political philosophy (excessive welfarism, minorities-focused, reservation-based incentives) is quite a contrast to the BJP’s core political philosophy and preferred social policies.
YSRCP
People of the Telugu states and the power centres in New Delhi fully understand the obvious but unspoken reasons for this odd, uneasy informal alliance of sorts between the BJP and the YSRCP, a relationship in which the YSRCP lends its unconditional support to the BJP-led central government at all times, regardless of the issue at hand. Among other reasons, the two main considerations appear to be:
- YSRCP founder and current CM of Andhra, Jagan Mohan Reddy is loathed to having any type or level of partnership with a Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi. He is rumoured to have a strong distrust for her and her close aides based on his experience of dealing with them after the death of his father in 2009, a staunch, lifelong Congressman and ex-CM of Andhra Pradesh, Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, popularly known as YSR. Upon his father’s death as a serving chief minister, Jagan Reddy had reportedly asked for the Congress leadership’s support in nominating him as his father’s successor to a top leadership role in the A.P unit of the Congress party and the state’s Chief Ministership. He was denied both and his family reportedly came back humiliated after a few personal meetings with Sonia Gandhi. He quit the Congress and started his own party, the YSRCP, flush with funds allegedly drawn from large-scale money laundering ventures he was involved in when his father was the chief minister.
- Jagan Reddy is a chief minister who is currently out on bail after having spent more than a year in jail. There are more than thirty cases against him ranging from financial mismanagement and illegal dealings to criminal allegations. He is still under investigation and continues to receive summons from the CBI and ED. He needs the support of the Central government in various ways to keep him from going back to jail anytime soon. His top aide, Vijay Sai Reddy served a prison sentence as well for massive financial irregularities before both of them managed to get out on bail. Other senior leaders of his party are also in trouble on various allegations, with the most recent issue being their involvement in the Delhi Liquorgate scam.
As one can imagine, staying out of jail is a priority for Jagan Reddy and his YSRCP party and hence maintaining favourable relations with the current central government by supporting them on every bill passed in the Parliament, is crucial for both himself and his party leaders, to delay the inevitable.
On the other hand Chandrababu Naidu’s arrest in connection with his alleged involvement in the ₹371 crore state skill development corporation scam has led to a political church in the state.
(Shivani is a freelance writer based in Vijayawada)
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