As I sit down to write about the politics of Andhra Pradesh, few thoughts cross my mind. One of the foremost ones is definitely the state division, the other being the rise of a certain Chandra Babu Naidu and the voice of a man called 'Pawan' Kalyan.
It is interesting to see how the politics of Andhra Pradesh has unfolded over the past decade. While the last decade saw the rise and fall of Congress, albeit for different reasons. One man walked to get Congress into power while to see the other man 'rise', it has gone ahead to divide the state that has been the backbone of congress rule at the centre. Congress governments at the centre have almost always relied on Andhra Pradesh to ensure that they have a sizeable number of MP's in Parliament.
Congress seems to have aimed for something similar this time around too, but with the support of other parties. A couple of months back, it seemed that it'd have the tacit support of TRS in Telangana region and the YSRCP in the Seema-Andhra (in the words of Digvijay Singh). Something seems to have gone wrong very badly with Congress' calculations. It didn't seem to count in the factor of a certain 'Chandra babu Naidu' and the rather unforseen Pawan Kalyan, who with his slogan 'Congress hatao, desh bachao' has captured the imagination of the Telugu nation.
It looked that by giving nod to the new state, Congress expected TRS to merge with it and with the new-found 'wave', it seemed to have thought that it'd have a smooth ride in the 'T' region. TRS' flip-flop on merging itself with congress seems to have not gone well with the Congress guys. It looks like that they've taken the mantle on their shoulders and to carry the message of how a certain Sonia G has made the T-state possible. We found this on our trip to Nizamabad a couple of weeks ago where state T-leaders were slated to hold a meeting near Dichpally.
It is interesting to note how the so-called power of YSRCP seems to have waned in the past few months. A few months back, it was widely believed that Jagan, with his staunch support for a united Telugu state (a thought that came rather late in the day) would run away with all the seats in the Seema-Andhra region. TDP's sudden rise in that part of the state has rather come as a surprise to many people, albeit not so amusingly. With capital gone, Seema-Andhra needs a strong leader, one who can bargain with the government in Delhi to bring home the central government funds for the various developmental projects in Seema-Andhra region. And, who better a leader than Chandra Babu Naidu, who with his vision for the erstwhile united 'Andhra Pradesh' state captured the imagination of one and all. Other leaders might contend as to what Chandra Babu Naidu did for the state of Andhra Pradesh and for Hyderabad; it is a widely accepted fact that it was him who dreamt and built the modern Hyderabad. But for him, we would have been the same laid-back, 'chalta hai' city that everyone associated with us.
Development was his agenda and he lived up to quite many expectations and promises. Like with any government in power for 10 years, he had amassed his share of miseries with the lack of rains not helping his cause at all. It is quite a sad thing that in his entire tenure, AP had a rainfall short-fall for all years but for one, where there was flooding. Nature didn't support Chandra Babu Naidu and it was natural that there was bound to be some backlash from the farming community. And, it was quite a bit of it; rather, very much. People seem to have associated with the farmer-image of the former CM, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. It was indeed his 'padayatra' that got him the winning image and he walked into the assembly, rather unopposed. TDP saw its total number of assembly seats plummet to new lows and what followed for the next decade was how Chandra Babu Naidu could make himself relevant in the state politics. Relevant, he was and how..
How Chandra Babu Naidu made the government servants work will make for another interesting article but while he made these babus work, what he didn't notice was how these people seemed to have hated his ways. His 'Janmabhoomi' brought babu's on to the roads to clean up places around, which hitherto, they might not have even dreamt of. His way of using technology in day-to-day activities got him a new name - hi-tech babu, a name he seemed to have rather taken quite seriously. That said, for our generation, it was a no less than a dream to see Hyderabad grow the way it did and we all have to be thankful to him for getting the IT industry set up its base in Hyderabad.
While the younger generation wanted another term for Chandra Babu Naidu, the older ones and the farmers seemed to have thought otherwise, may be rightly so. It was widely believed that he didn't do enough for the farmer community. Enter YSR and with him, entered new ways for people. What seems to have endeared him to people were the 'Aarogya Sri' and the 'Old-age' pension schemes amongst a slew of others. His many Jalayagnams don't seem to have worked well, but he did enjoy a certain goodwill amongst the vox populi. A goodwill that gave him the mandate for the second time. This time around, he wasn't there for too long to be in the CM's chair.
Life had other plans for him and in a rather twist of fate, he met his end in a helicopter crash in Nallamalla. With his death, there was a scramble for chair, in a very congressy style. What added to the story was the rise of Jagan, who, it seemed, aspiring for the CM's chair. And, in the din came K. Rosaiah garu, the grand old man to calm the heat. He was there for a while and he made way for a rather interesting choice, Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Kiran was a very interesting choice for the CM's chair - he had the support of people from 'Seema' area while he was born and brought up in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Hyderabad. Residents of Hyderabad expected a lot from him, as he knew of the city first hand for long. But what happened next was never seen before. Hyderabad's roads had gone from bad to worse and the newly begun 'Metro Rail' project added to the chaos. Kiran's projects were more of a continuation of his predecessors than something really new.
In the middle of all this din, there was a man who was rising and rising steadily, K. Chandrasekhara Rao, popularly called KCR. YSR's death ensured that there was a lack of proper leadership in the state and KCR, with his now famous 'deeksha' brought back the idea of 'Telangana'. It is interesting how YSR endorsed 'T' state before elections and how Chandra Babu Naidu went into the 2009 elections as part of a Mahakootami with TRS and the left parties. TDP's alliance with TRS seemed rather hushed up.
KCR's Deeksha shook the tables in Delhi and out came a certain PC to announce the formation of a new state of T, which later seemed to have been corrected. But the seeds were sown for political skirmishes in the 10 districts of T, including Hyderabad. What we witnessed was a very turbulent 25-30 months' period where the common-man was made to suffer in every which way for the political ambitions of a few individuals. Democracy was held at a ransom and people were left helpless.
People bunked offices, schools closed, offices shut down, buses didn't ply, trains didn't run, vehicles were stoned, people got hurt, some buses were torched, petrol bunks frequently shut, markets were shut, shops were closed and people were visibly irked. They somehow wanted all this to end. Seldom in the history of free India did we witness a so-called people's movement where the aam-aadmi was the loser at this scale, in more ways than one.
Days passed by and as the elections' year rolled on, Congress wanted to go back to the 'Telangana' issue. It wanted to see Rahul G in 7, RCR and it had to find new ways to do this and 'T' was one of the ways to go. This was hushed up in every manner possible and a new state was formed, unlike how every new state had been formed in free India. It divided the first state that was formed on linguistic basis in free India and congress made way to divide the very state that had got it into power, time and again. Did the average 'Telugu' guy deserve this? Telugodu ide korukunnada??
Many believe that 'Con' has been Congress' middle name over the years and all of them needed a voice. A voice came in the form of Narendra Modi at the centre and a certain 'Pawan' Kalyan in the Telugu state. Over the years, having seen 'Pawan' Kalyan and his movies, I realized that I like him more as a person than as an actor. His image as a person who cared for the society, his ideology, and his 'devil-may-care' attitude seems to have appealed to the masses who instantly connected to him and his thoughts.
While it was widely reported that 'Pawan' had political aspirations, it was a matter of time that this 'wind' blew and blew in the 'right' direction. And, it seems to have gathered the right speed on the 14th of this month, the day his 'Jana Sena' was announced. While his party's agenda is yet to be unveiled, he did make his stance quite clear that he was willing to work with any party other than the congress. It is his pitch for 'Congress hatao, Desh bachao' that seemed to have hit the right chords with the other political parties, who're against the grand old party.
Pawan's new party is apparently in talks with the TDP and the BJP for a grand alliance and if it indeed comes true, it will be interesting. What will also be more interesting if Jaya Prakash Narayan's 'Lok Satta Party' walks into this alliance and with a team that has the 'journeyman' Chandra Babu Naidu, a central partner like the BJP, a 'thinking man' like JP garu and a 'crowd puller' like 'Pawan' Kalyan, this alliance seems to be a 'tour-de-force' to reckon. Chandra Babu Naidu will need the support of all these people to deliver - JP garu to look after major policies, BJP (in the case that it shall form the government in Delhi) to support all the state projects and 'Pawan' Kalyan to unify all the youth across both the states of Seema-Andhra and Telangana.
It will be very tough for TDP to come into power in "T" as TRS is expected to win with the 'wave' firmly in their favour with the formation of a new state. Congress is also pitching in its voice as the party that gave the new state. While TRS and Congress are strong in their bastions, it remains to be seen who wins the rest of seats - in urban seats of Hyderabad and in places like Khammam where the TDP is expected to win handsomely. TDP hasn't clearly got the mileage in the formation of "T", despite it giving a letter supporting it in 2008. Every party has voiced its displeasure against the Cycle. BJP is also expected to gain big this time in "T" region as it has always been supporting smaller states.
Congress can kiss its fortunes goodbye in Seema-Andhra (in Digvijay Singh's tone) for at least the next decade. TDP's swift rise and YSRCP being on an apparent wane in the SA region, it has to be seen how the political demographics play out in the next 45 days as both the regions of Andhra Pradesh go to polls. Will Chandra Babu Naidu emerge as RGV's 'Shiva' wielding the Chain or will it be a 'Hand' in 'T' or a 'Flower' or a 'Car' or a certain 'new' symbol, politics in Andhra Pradesh are here for a change and these elections shall be the harbinger of a new era in the history of Telugus world over and all that we can hope is that 'democracy' triumphs with the common man not having to bother about governance, 'roti', 'kapda', 'petrol' aur 'makaan'..
PS: All that I've written are based on my knowledge and understanding and in case of any errors that may have crept up, I am ready to be corrected.
It is interesting to see how the politics of Andhra Pradesh has unfolded over the past decade. While the last decade saw the rise and fall of Congress, albeit for different reasons. One man walked to get Congress into power while to see the other man 'rise', it has gone ahead to divide the state that has been the backbone of congress rule at the centre. Congress governments at the centre have almost always relied on Andhra Pradesh to ensure that they have a sizeable number of MP's in Parliament.
Congress seems to have aimed for something similar this time around too, but with the support of other parties. A couple of months back, it seemed that it'd have the tacit support of TRS in Telangana region and the YSRCP in the Seema-Andhra (in the words of Digvijay Singh). Something seems to have gone wrong very badly with Congress' calculations. It didn't seem to count in the factor of a certain 'Chandra babu Naidu' and the rather unforseen Pawan Kalyan, who with his slogan 'Congress hatao, desh bachao' has captured the imagination of the Telugu nation.
It looked that by giving nod to the new state, Congress expected TRS to merge with it and with the new-found 'wave', it seemed to have thought that it'd have a smooth ride in the 'T' region. TRS' flip-flop on merging itself with congress seems to have not gone well with the Congress guys. It looks like that they've taken the mantle on their shoulders and to carry the message of how a certain Sonia G has made the T-state possible. We found this on our trip to Nizamabad a couple of weeks ago where state T-leaders were slated to hold a meeting near Dichpally.
It is interesting to note how the so-called power of YSRCP seems to have waned in the past few months. A few months back, it was widely believed that Jagan, with his staunch support for a united Telugu state (a thought that came rather late in the day) would run away with all the seats in the Seema-Andhra region. TDP's sudden rise in that part of the state has rather come as a surprise to many people, albeit not so amusingly. With capital gone, Seema-Andhra needs a strong leader, one who can bargain with the government in Delhi to bring home the central government funds for the various developmental projects in Seema-Andhra region. And, who better a leader than Chandra Babu Naidu, who with his vision for the erstwhile united 'Andhra Pradesh' state captured the imagination of one and all. Other leaders might contend as to what Chandra Babu Naidu did for the state of Andhra Pradesh and for Hyderabad; it is a widely accepted fact that it was him who dreamt and built the modern Hyderabad. But for him, we would have been the same laid-back, 'chalta hai' city that everyone associated with us.
Development was his agenda and he lived up to quite many expectations and promises. Like with any government in power for 10 years, he had amassed his share of miseries with the lack of rains not helping his cause at all. It is quite a sad thing that in his entire tenure, AP had a rainfall short-fall for all years but for one, where there was flooding. Nature didn't support Chandra Babu Naidu and it was natural that there was bound to be some backlash from the farming community. And, it was quite a bit of it; rather, very much. People seem to have associated with the farmer-image of the former CM, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. It was indeed his 'padayatra' that got him the winning image and he walked into the assembly, rather unopposed. TDP saw its total number of assembly seats plummet to new lows and what followed for the next decade was how Chandra Babu Naidu could make himself relevant in the state politics. Relevant, he was and how..
How Chandra Babu Naidu made the government servants work will make for another interesting article but while he made these babus work, what he didn't notice was how these people seemed to have hated his ways. His 'Janmabhoomi' brought babu's on to the roads to clean up places around, which hitherto, they might not have even dreamt of. His way of using technology in day-to-day activities got him a new name - hi-tech babu, a name he seemed to have rather taken quite seriously. That said, for our generation, it was a no less than a dream to see Hyderabad grow the way it did and we all have to be thankful to him for getting the IT industry set up its base in Hyderabad.
While the younger generation wanted another term for Chandra Babu Naidu, the older ones and the farmers seemed to have thought otherwise, may be rightly so. It was widely believed that he didn't do enough for the farmer community. Enter YSR and with him, entered new ways for people. What seems to have endeared him to people were the 'Aarogya Sri' and the 'Old-age' pension schemes amongst a slew of others. His many Jalayagnams don't seem to have worked well, but he did enjoy a certain goodwill amongst the vox populi. A goodwill that gave him the mandate for the second time. This time around, he wasn't there for too long to be in the CM's chair.
Life had other plans for him and in a rather twist of fate, he met his end in a helicopter crash in Nallamalla. With his death, there was a scramble for chair, in a very congressy style. What added to the story was the rise of Jagan, who, it seemed, aspiring for the CM's chair. And, in the din came K. Rosaiah garu, the grand old man to calm the heat. He was there for a while and he made way for a rather interesting choice, Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Kiran was a very interesting choice for the CM's chair - he had the support of people from 'Seema' area while he was born and brought up in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Hyderabad. Residents of Hyderabad expected a lot from him, as he knew of the city first hand for long. But what happened next was never seen before. Hyderabad's roads had gone from bad to worse and the newly begun 'Metro Rail' project added to the chaos. Kiran's projects were more of a continuation of his predecessors than something really new.
In the middle of all this din, there was a man who was rising and rising steadily, K. Chandrasekhara Rao, popularly called KCR. YSR's death ensured that there was a lack of proper leadership in the state and KCR, with his now famous 'deeksha' brought back the idea of 'Telangana'. It is interesting how YSR endorsed 'T' state before elections and how Chandra Babu Naidu went into the 2009 elections as part of a Mahakootami with TRS and the left parties. TDP's alliance with TRS seemed rather hushed up.
KCR's Deeksha shook the tables in Delhi and out came a certain PC to announce the formation of a new state of T, which later seemed to have been corrected. But the seeds were sown for political skirmishes in the 10 districts of T, including Hyderabad. What we witnessed was a very turbulent 25-30 months' period where the common-man was made to suffer in every which way for the political ambitions of a few individuals. Democracy was held at a ransom and people were left helpless.
People bunked offices, schools closed, offices shut down, buses didn't ply, trains didn't run, vehicles were stoned, people got hurt, some buses were torched, petrol bunks frequently shut, markets were shut, shops were closed and people were visibly irked. They somehow wanted all this to end. Seldom in the history of free India did we witness a so-called people's movement where the aam-aadmi was the loser at this scale, in more ways than one.
Days passed by and as the elections' year rolled on, Congress wanted to go back to the 'Telangana' issue. It wanted to see Rahul G in 7, RCR and it had to find new ways to do this and 'T' was one of the ways to go. This was hushed up in every manner possible and a new state was formed, unlike how every new state had been formed in free India. It divided the first state that was formed on linguistic basis in free India and congress made way to divide the very state that had got it into power, time and again. Did the average 'Telugu' guy deserve this? Telugodu ide korukunnada??
Many believe that 'Con' has been Congress' middle name over the years and all of them needed a voice. A voice came in the form of Narendra Modi at the centre and a certain 'Pawan' Kalyan in the Telugu state. Over the years, having seen 'Pawan' Kalyan and his movies, I realized that I like him more as a person than as an actor. His image as a person who cared for the society, his ideology, and his 'devil-may-care' attitude seems to have appealed to the masses who instantly connected to him and his thoughts.
While it was widely reported that 'Pawan' had political aspirations, it was a matter of time that this 'wind' blew and blew in the 'right' direction. And, it seems to have gathered the right speed on the 14th of this month, the day his 'Jana Sena' was announced. While his party's agenda is yet to be unveiled, he did make his stance quite clear that he was willing to work with any party other than the congress. It is his pitch for 'Congress hatao, Desh bachao' that seemed to have hit the right chords with the other political parties, who're against the grand old party.
Pawan's new party is apparently in talks with the TDP and the BJP for a grand alliance and if it indeed comes true, it will be interesting. What will also be more interesting if Jaya Prakash Narayan's 'Lok Satta Party' walks into this alliance and with a team that has the 'journeyman' Chandra Babu Naidu, a central partner like the BJP, a 'thinking man' like JP garu and a 'crowd puller' like 'Pawan' Kalyan, this alliance seems to be a 'tour-de-force' to reckon. Chandra Babu Naidu will need the support of all these people to deliver - JP garu to look after major policies, BJP (in the case that it shall form the government in Delhi) to support all the state projects and 'Pawan' Kalyan to unify all the youth across both the states of Seema-Andhra and Telangana.
It will be very tough for TDP to come into power in "T" as TRS is expected to win with the 'wave' firmly in their favour with the formation of a new state. Congress is also pitching in its voice as the party that gave the new state. While TRS and Congress are strong in their bastions, it remains to be seen who wins the rest of seats - in urban seats of Hyderabad and in places like Khammam where the TDP is expected to win handsomely. TDP hasn't clearly got the mileage in the formation of "T", despite it giving a letter supporting it in 2008. Every party has voiced its displeasure against the Cycle. BJP is also expected to gain big this time in "T" region as it has always been supporting smaller states.
Congress can kiss its fortunes goodbye in Seema-Andhra (in Digvijay Singh's tone) for at least the next decade. TDP's swift rise and YSRCP being on an apparent wane in the SA region, it has to be seen how the political demographics play out in the next 45 days as both the regions of Andhra Pradesh go to polls. Will Chandra Babu Naidu emerge as RGV's 'Shiva' wielding the Chain or will it be a 'Hand' in 'T' or a 'Flower' or a 'Car' or a certain 'new' symbol, politics in Andhra Pradesh are here for a change and these elections shall be the harbinger of a new era in the history of Telugus world over and all that we can hope is that 'democracy' triumphs with the common man not having to bother about governance, 'roti', 'kapda', 'petrol' aur 'makaan'..
PS: All that I've written are based on my knowledge and understanding and in case of any errors that may have crept up, I am ready to be corrected.
