Plight Of A Loyal Friend

All politburo members, irrespective of their religious affiliations, agreed. Their burden was that if the TDP only made token noises, its image would take a beating. The Gujarat carnage, Naidu was told, had a much larger dimension than a Hindu-Muslim riot.

Also, what forced Naidu to rethink was a meeting of party workers he addressed last week in Hyderabad. There were loud cheers when he said, "The TDP is founded on secular principles and we are for communal harmony. There will be no compromise on this." He also told them that he had called up Vajpayee, asking him to ensure that normalcy quickly returns to Gujarat, and relief and rehabilitation work be carried out on a war footing.

However, his words rang hollow and he appeared to be getting increasingly frustrated as his phone calls to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee seemed to be making little difference. Becoming increasingly defensive about his ties with the BJP, Naidu began avoiding the press and warned his leaders about speaking to journalists.

The visiting Union minister of state in the PMO, Vijay Goel, probably realised Naidu’s predicament when he called on him earlier in the week. The scheduled 15-minute courtesy call became an hour-long closed door, one-on-one meeting, with Naidu apparently venting his frustrations over the Gujarat situation.

That the TDP would demand Modi’s ouster became clear as the politburo meeting got under way. With senior BJP leaders and some nda allies demanding that the Gujarat CM be sacked, Naidu was told by speaker after speaker that the TDP had to be firm.

Initially, Naidu appeared willing to strike but not to wound. He tried to suggest that bringing the situation under control, besides relief and rehabilitation, was more important than a change in the Gujarat leadership. When quizzed by reporters earlier in the week about Modi, he was ambiguous: "That’s not the only solution. The main priority is they should control the situation and the violence should end." The TDP also tried to suggest it was politically incorrect for one CM to call for the outright dismissal of another.

Naidu’s hand was finally forced when several of his senior colleagues expressed fears that the TDP’s own image would be irreparably damaged because of its soft stand on the issue. Naidu’s detractors, however, view the recent turn of events with much scepticism. They feel the TDP’s delayed resolution on Modi probably follows a secret pact between the TDP and the BJP over the issue.

Whatever the hidden agenda, the TDP move has set to rest speculation that Naidu will stop short of embarrassing the BJP.