Naidu's gamble
When was the last time one praised Jayalalithaa for restraint, simultaneously
wondering why Chandrababu Naidu went out on a limb? Asked whether she
too demanded Narendra Modi's resignation, Jayalalithaa said the spirit
of
federalism made it unethical for one chief minister to demand the head
of
another. This was in contrast to the dramatic stand taken by her Andhra
Pradesh counterpart.
It was odd behaviour for the savvy Chandrababu Naidu. Particularly so,
since he needs the BJP on his side, far more than does Jayalalithaa. Why
so?
Well, the latest report from the Comptroller & Auditor General states
Andhra Pradesh's revenue deficit has risen to Rs 4,149 crore. (It was Rs
1,233 crore in 1999-2000.) Worse, the state's aggregate liabilities rose
to
Rs 40,601 crore in 2000-2001 from Rs 33,629 crore a year earlier. The
Chandrababu Naidu ministry needs continued, and generous, aid from the
Union government -- more difficult to come by if the BJP is riled unnecessarily.
However, the Telugu Desam's need for support goes beyond money. There is
a political deficit as
well. Take a look at the party's performance in the past three general
elections (the ones fought
under Chandrababu Naidu's generalship).
The Telugu Desam won just 16 of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra
Pradesh in 1996.
(A seventeenth, Nandyal, fell to it in a by-election after P V Narasimha
Rao vacated the seat.) In
1998, the Telugu Desam's score fell to 12. Both times, however, Chandrababu
Naidu emerged a
winner thanks to some exquisite manoeuvring. But the fact remained that
the Congress tally never
sank below 22, a clear majority of the seats.
In 1999, however, there was a dramatic reversal. The Congress got only
five seats while the
Telugu Desam won a whopping 29. Some like to believe this was a vote for
'reform.' I am afraid it
was nothing but old-fashioned electoral arithmetic, the result of a pre-poll
seat-sharing pact with
the BJP. Take a look at some of the constituencies that changed hands.
Let us begin with Tirupati. In 1998, Dr Chintha Mohan won the seat for
the Congress, polling
288,904 votes. This represented only 38.52% of the total votes, but, in
the face of a divided
Opposition, it proved to be enough.
In the 1999 general election, Dr Chintha Mohan polled 373,981 votes, representing
47.31% of
the total. Under normal circumstances, that massive leap would have meant
a definite victory.
Incredibly, it was not enough -- with the Bharatiya Janata Party's Dr N
Venkataswamy getting
48.89%, a lead of 12,497 votes in real terms.
Let us turn now to Vishakhapatnam. In 1998 the inimitable T Subbarami Reddy
held the seat with
375,782 votes (42.21% of the whole). In 1999, he improved both votes (getting
403,117) and
the percentage (45.56%). Yet he lost the seat to M V V S Murthy of the
Telugu Desam.
How about Medak, the first constituency in South India represented by a
sitting prime minister,
Indira Gandhi? In 1998, M Baga Reddy held the seat for the Congress with
269,122 votes
(34.11%). In 1999, he registered a massive improvement on both counts --
378,161 votes
(45.54%). But Indira Gandhi's seat is now represented by A Narendra of
the BJP!
I could go on, but why bother? It was much the same story in constituency
after constituency
across Andhra Pradesh. Polarisation meant that Congress candidates were
polling more votes
than in 1998 -- and still proceeding to lose. That was the flip side of
polarisation -- votes
coalescing in favour of the alliance between the Telugu Desam and the BJP.
The BJP has managed to build a cadre in Andhra Pradesh, dedicated enough
for the party to be
able to transfer its votes across the state. In 1998, the Telugu Desam
had 41.68% in Vijayawada
and the BJP had 11.62%; the Congress won. One year later, the first two
came together, got
51.96%, and P Upendra bit the dust.
The same thing happened in Tenali, where in 1998 the Telugu Desam had 44.02%,
the BJP got
9.51%, and the Congress' P Shiv Shanker romped home with 46.34%. In 1999,
the former
Union minister lost when the other two parties closed ranks against him
-- getting an unbeatable
52.63%.
Very briefly, Chandrababu Naidu needs the BJP on his side -- whether he
is the chief executive of
Andhra Pradesh or president of the Telugu Desam. So what drove him to take
a public stance on
Narendra Modi?
Part of it, I think, was the fear that Muslim voters would desert him.
But this would have
happened the minute that he signed a deal with the BJP in 1999. The other
rationale on offer is
more complicated: apparently Chandrababu Naidu got the impression that
the prime minister was
about to dismiss Modi, decided that he might cash in by appearing to prove
his influence, and
came out with a public statement. But in doing so, the Andhra Pradesh chief
minister forgot two
cardinal rules of politics:
First: Never try to humiliate anyone to the point where they shall fight back.
Second: Always leave some corner for your own retreat.
Oh yes, there is a third thing to remember. The Congress organised a successful
rally in Anantpur
last week, with Sonia Gandhi drawing cheers by attacking the most visible
flaw in the Telugu
Desam's economic package -- the depression in the agricultural sector.
It was a warning that the
Congress remains a potent factor at ground level.
So, before the Telugu Desam distances itself from the BJP the party may
like to recall Benjamin
Franklin's warning at a previous declaration of independence; in 1776,
he told his fellow
Americans, 'We must now all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all
hang separately!'