Naidu’s volte face has a pattern

By J.R.PRASAD Hyderabad, Oct. 12:

Politics is all about grabbing power, and ideology can be twisted to fit the occasion. And politicians are there to remind us every now and then that it is so. But even while accepting this truth, the mind-boggling volte face by Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, on many issues has left many observers dumbfounded. His recent decision to endorse a separate Telangana state is just one instance in point. Even though Mr Naidu has justified this as an acknowledgement of the sentiments of the people, it is well known that he did this only to join hands with the Telangana Rastra Samiti in the coming polls. Interestingly, Mr Naidu, who hurled choicest abuses at the Congress during the 2004 campaign for its ‘opportunistic’ alliance with the TRS and the Left parties, is doing the same thing now. The Telugu Desam chief has also dumped his erstwhile opposition to ‘populist schemes’. While in power, he had bluntly rejected the idea of supplying free power to farmers. But now he is all for it. In fact, he made as many as 208 populist promises in his 117-day Mee Kosam Yatra, including extremely impractical ones such as providing free gas connections to poor women. This is all meant to help him take on the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, who is banking on populist schemes such as free power, health insurance and Rs 2 per-kg rice to return to power. Similarly, the self-proclaimed former CEO of Andhra Pradesh was the first to sell government lands indiscriminately to industrialists. However, now he thinks such sale is against the interest of farmers. He has also changed his stance on the legislative council. Though he was earlier opposed to the revival of the council and had vowed to abolish it if he returned to power, he now says that the council will be retained. Mr Chandra Babu Naidu now finds the council a convenient place to pack leaders who are going to be denied tickets during the Assembly polls. And to prevent his party leaders from crossing over to Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam, the Telugu Desam chief has also promised to create a host of nominated posts which they can occupy after he comes to power. It is to be seen whether all these ideological shifts would help him in the polls.