Two and a half years after he walked out of the state assembly vowing to re-enter the building only as the Chief Minister, Nara Chandrababu Naidu took oath as the Andhra Pradesh CM for the fourth time on Wednesday.
A kingmaker in the 1990s — installing the HD Deve Gowda government in 1996 with the TDP joining it and backing the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from outside in 1999 — Naidu is playing that role yet again. His TDP with 16 Lok Sabha MPs is the BJP’s biggest alliance partner in NDA, and the fate of Narendra Modi 3.0 largely depends on Naidu’s whim.
Steering a state steeped in debt, Naidu, with his 14 years of experience as CM (including nine years for undivided Andhra Pradesh), is expected to bring it back from the brink of going bankrupt.
For this, the CEO CM needs to improve the state’s finances and growth by attracting huge investments and, at the same time, succeed in extracting a large share of funds and grants to aid AP’s development. He is his own ‘double engine’ government.
“Boss Is Back”, “King Maker”, “Game Changer”—hundreds of yellow-tinged banners and billboards put up all over Vijayawada, Amaravati, and Mangalagiri by “Babu” supporters announced the grand return of Naidu to helming Andhra Pradesh affairs in the hope of his capability placing the state back in the fast lane of growth.
And that is why N Chandrababu Naidu is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.
Also read: Nobody should doubt Chandrababu Naidu’s determination. If anything, they should fear it
Back in centre stage with a bang
Naidu, 74, with an MA in Economics and a nearly five-decade-long meteoric stint in politics, was sworn in as the CM in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Gannavaram, near Vijayawada.
The bear-hug of the two on-stage, with several pats on each other’s back, was the highlight of the ceremony.
The jubilant, satiating scene now for the eyes of lakhs of TDP cadres appeared impossible five years ago when the regional party was reduced to its lowest tally in a humiliating defeat for then-CM Naidu.
The Jagan Mohan Reddy wave swept the 2019 elections, with YSRCP winning a whopping 151 (of the 175) assembly and 22 (of the 25) Lok Sabha seats. The TDP was down to a mere 23 MLAs and 3 MPs.
Some political analysts saw the verdict as an unceremonious voter send-off to Naidu, and some YSRCP leaders and critics suggested that the workaholic Naidu take a well-deserved rest, playing with his only grandson and spending time with his family.
However, in a verdict that yet again proved that politics and people’s thoughts are ever-shifting based on circumstances, the regional satrap made a grand comeback in the elections this year.
The Naidu-led kootami (TDP-Jana Sena-BJP alliance) won an overwhelming mandate, winning 164 assembly seats and 21 Lok Sabha seats. The extent of TDP’s dominance was clear: it won 135 of the 144 assembly seats and 16 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats it contested.
Naidu’s support will be pivotal for Modi 3.0, expected to be a real coalition rule this time with all the associated pulls, pushes, and turbulences.
Also read: Nitish-Naidu no threat until 2028 but Agniparikshas await Modi before he turns 75
An arduous journey back to glory
The path to re-glory was tasking, and the past five years have been the most challenging and troubling for Naidu, TDP leaders say.
Out of power and at rock bottom in numbers, Naidu was taunted both inside and outside the assembly, with a few YSRCP MLAs allegedly even using expletives.
Perhaps what hurt Naidu most was Jagan discarding his dream, mega world-class Greenfield capital project Amaravati. All the works, some in association with Singapore firms, came to a grinding halt in 2019 as Jagan announced his much-controversial three-capital plan. In an innovative approach, Naidu had pooled 33,000 acres from farmers of about 30 villages in the Amaravati area, promising them developed plots, crop annuity, and other benefits in return.
Naidu wanted to build a capital to surpass Hyderabad-Cyberabad in grandeur, and small farmers hoped for massive growth and numerous job opportunities. Both were left disheartened.
A few of his MLAs sided with Jagan, as YSRCP, according to TDP leaders’ claims, moved with political vengeance, targetting their businesses or arresting leaders in various cases.
At one point, in November 2021, Naidu vowed not to return to the assembly while Jagan was in authority. In visuals on live TV that dismayed the Andhra Pradesh public, Naidu broke down in tears during a press conference, alleging that his wife Bhuvaneswari was also targetted with ungracious remarks.
However, the turning point for the TDP was Naidu’s arrest by the Jagan-controlled AP CID in September last year in an alleged skill development project scam when Naidu was the CM from 2014 to 2019.
Within five days of his confinement in the Rajahmundry central jail, the hugely popular actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan parlayed with him inside, came out, and announced the TDP-JSP alliance for the 2024 polls, with the single-point agenda of defeating Jagan.
“Anti-Jagan votes should not split at any cost,” was the strong message Naidu and Pawan sent out to their leaders, cadres, despite the turmoil over allocation of seats.
Realising the 2019 blunder of going alone, when his party won one seat with himself losing from two seats and the TDP being trounced, Pawan patched up with Naidu and even mediated the TDP re-entry into the NDA.
In a noteworthy transition, while his father was in jail for 52 days, TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh played the party lead and camped in Delhi to garner the BJP bosses’ support. He had met Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing Jagan, who is seen as close to Modi, of resorting to political witch-hunts. Lokesh also went on a statewide padayatra named Yuva-Galam, connecting with the electorate and understanding people’s aspirations.
Contrary to apprehensions, the TDP, JSP, and the AP BJP under Daggubati Purandeswari, a sister-in-law of Naidu, displayed remarkable camaraderie as the poll date neared.
While vote transfer between the three parties was smooth, a massive but silent anti-incumbency wave saw Jagan packing his bags.
Apart from Jagan, only one YSRCP minister managed to retain their seat.
The BJP won eight out of 10, Jana Sena won all of its contested 21 assembly seats, and in his best electoral performance, Naidu led his TDP to victory in 135 seats out of the 144 the party contested.
Can Naidu extract his pound of flesh?
The TDP joined the Modi cabinet Sunday, just as it did in 2014, and got the same civil aviation cabinet ministership and one MoS berth.
But the big question is if Naidu would insist on the special category status for Andhra Pradesh, a bifurcation-time assurance by the UPA and a demand over which the TDP walked out of the NDA in March 2018 in an acrimonious way.
Naidu has pledged his solid support for BJP and, after Modi took oath as PM for the third time on Sunday, congratulated him, wishing him “a successful and fulfilling tenure devoted to his vision of Viksit Bharat.”
Given the complications over granting the status and others like the JDU also seeking the status for Bihar, the AP CM, TDP leaders say, might be content with a good financial package, funds for the completion of the Polavaram project, and aid for Amravati, and the allocation of some new projects to Andhra Pradesh.
Analysts say, unlike the previous term, Modi needs Naidu, so he will be accommodative of the latter’s requests and requirements.
Meanwhile, after the customary darshan of Sri Venkateswara Swamy at Tirupati, a few kilometres away from his native Naravaripalle village, and after prayers at the Vijayawada Kanakadurga temple, Naidu took charge as the CM on Thursday in his old chambers at the state Secretariat at Velagapudi.
The TDP chief was accorded a rousing reception by the Amaravati farmers and other local residents, who carpeted the capital seed access road with yellow flower petals.
Immediately after, Naidu got down to business in his best CEO mode, by signing five files committing to his election assurances.
The files include a notification to fill 16,347 teachers job vacancies in the state, abolition of the controversial land titling act brought in by the Reddy government, enhancing the monthly old age and welfare pensions from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000, initiation of a skill census toward fulfilling Naidu’s promise of 20 lakh jobs, and reopening of Anna Canteens that were offering meals at a nominal cost before Jagan closed them down after coming to power.
Naidu also huddled with the senior IAS and IPS officers, expressing displeasure over some of them allegedly operating unfairly and in a partisan manner in the last few years under Jagan’s rule.
“I’ll bring the derailed system back on track,” the CEO CM reportedly told the officials.
(Edited by Prashant)