National

The Lone Ranger

It's a bumpy campaign ride as laptop-happy Chandrababu Naidu hardsells the TDP to an often angry electorate

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The Lone Ranger
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NEVER does he ever budge from his stony, 'all is well' front. Yet Chandrababu Naidu's cup of election woes brimmeth over. As he moves into the final leg of campaigning, the World Bank-friendly chief minister of Andhra Pradesh seems to be paying the price for pushing liberalisation and downsizing the populist policies of his father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao.

 At meeting after meeting hecklers—mostly women—cavil against Naidu's brand of economy: lifting prohibition and taking NTR's famed Rs 2-per-kilo-rice beyond their reach. Naidu tries his best to go about his business unruffled. But add the dramatic 'cotton suicides' to all the protests and the buzz is that the undercurrent of resentment against the laptop-happy chief minister might make the going tough for the TDP.

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And Chandrababu Naidu is central to the TDP campaign. Every banner and poster has the chief minister's picture alongside NTR—the late founder of the TDP who Naidu dethroned to become chief minister. At all TDP rallies, the chief minister's cutouts tower over that of the local candidate. The chorus line of all the election songs of the TDP, set to popular film tunes, invokes the name of the gritty Federal Front muscleman. He is variously described as the hardworking, honest, non-corrupt saviour of the Telugu people, who alone can bring prosperity to the state. Every TDP campaign begins and ends with Chandrababu Naidu. Which is why, should Naidu fail in the hardsell of his controversial policies, the TDP is unlikely to improve on its 16-seat tally (out of 42) in 1996.

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Naidu, however, is depending on the party organisation to help him "sweep the polls". If there is a slight miscarriage there, it won't be for want of effort. For, the TDP's one-man army has pushed his campaign on to full throttle. "I work 16 to 18 hours a day for all of you. Now it's your turn to reward me with your votes"—that's his signature tune at all election rallies. Talking macro-economic compulsions to an angry electorate may be an unenviable task, but Naidu does his best. He takes pains to explain how he had the long-term interests of the state when he took certain decisions. He reminds everyone of how he, with the help of the United Front government, managed the allocation of Rs 3,000 crore from the Central pool for development projects in the state. He dwells at length on the success of the Janmabhoomi programme which took the government to the people. He implores everyone to vote for the UF and the TDP. The Congress he dismisses as a party of the corrupt. The BJP, he points out, is communal and has no place in Andhra Pradesh.

A few weeks ago, the political pundits in Hyderabad were only too willing to bill the TDP as the party which would make major gains in this elections. The Congress looked weak and crippled by factionalism. On the other hand, it was felt that Naidu, who is rated as a top-flight organisation man and an efficient manager, would tide over the criticism he generated as he rolled back some of NTR's populist schemes that were taxing the exchequer. It was also predicted that his scheme to widen roads throughout the state, which led to the demolition of scores of houses constructed on government land, his closure of loss-making PSUs and a series of suicides by cotton growers caught in debt traps would not severely affect the TDP.

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However, as campaigning took off, Naidu was straightaway confronted with the wrath of the electorate. At Markapur in Prakasam district, a sizeable group of women sitting up front in the crowd began heckling the chief minister as soon as he got on stage. They were railling against Naidu for having reversed NTR's prohibition policy."Why do you campaign with NTR's posters when you were the person who destroyed him?" one of the women shouted out. Naidu chose not to answer although he later referred to those disturbing the meeting as "people planted by the Congress".

But this was not true. Women, particularly from the weaker economic sections throughout the state, are very unhappy with the lifting of prohibition. It was NTR's promise of declaring Andhra Pradesh a dry state which helped him sweep the assembly elections in January 1995. Now, the supporters of NTR feel cheated by Naidu who is also trying to cash in on the NTR legacy. The women who protested at Markapur said they were supporters of the TDP. But they were upset with the policies of the chief minister.

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 The drama did not end there. A cotton farmer present at the rally, Mutyalapati Subbiah, questioned the chief minister even as he spoke of the assistance his government was giving to cotton farmers. Subbiah claimed he had not received any assistance from the state and whipped out a can of pesticide and consumed it right before the chief minister. Panchayatraj minister Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, who was sharing the stage with Naidu, was quick to whisk Subbiah away from the reach of photographers to the local hospital. But the incident only seemed to reiterate what Naidu's detractors have been saying—emotionally, the TDP has lost ground.

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ADDING to Naidu's woes is the large crowds that Sonia Gandhi has been attracting in the districts. The crowds seem to be swelling with each meeting and Mrs G's second round of campaigning has visibly lifted the Congress spirits a few more notches. Over-enthusiastic supporters of the Nehru-Gandhi family now speak of improving on the 22 seats that the Congress won last time. The Congress optimism is based on the premise that the resentment against the TDP would translate into votes for their party. With Lakshmi Parvati not likely to have any significant impact, the fight is between the TDP and the Congress. The BJP is in the reckoning in three constituencies, but it is likely that the party's Hindutva hardline in its manifesto will deter floating voters.

However, it is too early to write off Naidu. Those close to him point out how he has done a detailed constituency-to-constituency analysis before embarking on his campaign. They say Naidu has charted out a methodology to counter the negative impact of some of the decisions of his government. The Naidu camp also points out that at the end of the day the TDP will do well at the hustings because the party organisation is solidly behind their leader.

One factor that may work to the advantage of Naidu is his tie-up with the communist parties in the state. This has made available the disciplined and committed Left cadre for TDP campaigns. And has also made the TDP campaigns more visible and colourful. Street plays and dances form part of the campaign. Besides which, the TDP has film star Jayaprada campaigning for it. On the other hand, the Congress campaign, which only took off after Sonia Gandhi's visit, employs more conventional modes of attracting voters.

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But no one is clear about which direction Naidu's campaign may take in the last few days before elections. The chief minister is a loner who does not reveal his plans early. He travels alone in his chopper and does not have partymen on board. As he shuttles from one constituency to the next, he leafs through his papers which give him a profile of his next halt. For Naidu a good performance by the TDP is vital. Should the party sweep, it would be a virtual referendum for Naidu's style of governance and his economic policies. It would also be a hard-won victory for the lone ranger of the TDP.
with M.S. Shanker in Hyderabad

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