Political scene in Andhra Pradesh in 2008

Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: Two things remained conspicuous on the political scene in Andhra Pradesh in the year 2008: one, the birth of Telugu Mega Star Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party and two, the re-alignment of the Left parties with the Telugu Desam Party. By any measure, these two noteworthy developments on the political scene have become the key factors that will determine the outcome of Elections-2009 in the state, due in April. More significantly, the state politics have started revolving round the Telugu film industry with parties vying to showcase their "star" might for the first time than ever before. With Chiranjeevi launching his own party, the principal opposition TD has roped in film stars from the Nandamuri clan for party service while the ruling Congress too tried to enlist star support in equal measure. While TDP founder-president and legendary Telugu actor N T Rama Rao's son Balakrishna – one of the top Telugu film heroes – was the main draw for the party, NTR's grandsons Kalyan Ram, Taraka Ratna and NTR (Junior) too have jumped into the political field to "resurrect" the TDP and make Nara Chandrababu Naidu the Chief Minister again. Chiranjeevi's youngest brother and film hero Pavan Kalyan has been made chief of Yuva Rajyam, the youth wing of Praja Rajyam Party, with the main objective of attracting youths towards the party. For the Congress, the star attractions were hero Rajasekhar and his actress-turned-director wife Jeevita. Yesteryear 'Super Star' of Telugu films Krishna, former heroine Jayasudha and character artiste Srihari too have sided with the Congress. Krishna, of course, was elected to Lok Sabha from Eluru in 1996 on behalf of Congress but stayed away from politics for a long time. The Congress desperately tried to rope in Krishna's son and the current heartthrob Mahesh Babu but the young actor evinced no interest. A consolation for the ruling party, however, has been the endorsement of the state government's welfare programmes through a visual advertisement campaign by another top hero Akkineni Nagarjuna. But the Congress has been totally isolated with all its allies of 2004 – the Left parties and the TRS – completely deserting it. The ruling party thus faces a formidable task of contesting the 2009 elections all alone against the backdrop of a perceived anti-incumbency factor. The TDP too is plagued by its own set of problems with many a senior leader quitting the party and joining the Chiranjeevi bandwagon. TDP heavyweights like Kotagiri Vidyadher Rao, C Ramachandraiah, Tammineni Seetaram, Bhuma Nagi Reddy and his wife Sobha Nagi Reddy, besides a couple of MLAs and former MLAs quit their parent party and joined the Praja Rajyam Party. Congress too saw many of its senior leaders parting ways and walking into the Chiranjeevi camp, notable among them being former Union ministers P Shiv Shanker, P Upendra, former MPs Ch Harirama Jogaiah and K S R Murthy. With Nandamuri Balakrishna taking an active role in TDP, seniors who quit the party previously have started returning. While Congress MLA Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu quit his post and the party to rejoin his parent party, an independent MLA K Laxmaiah Naidu too returned to the TDP fold. Still, troubles are not yet over for the TDP as many senior leaders are sulking and preparing ground to leave the party ahead of the ensuing elections. Many Congress MLAs too are said to be in line to join the Chiranjeevi party owing to their caste connections. The political crossovers will continue till the elections in April. Yet another separatist party has taken birth in Andhra Pradesh in 2008 with former home minister T Devender Goud quitting the Telugu Desam Party and setting up his own Nava Telangana Praja Party. It had to be later rechristened as Nava Telangana Party following a technical glitch over its registration with the Election Commission. Everybody thought the pro-Telangana parties will join hands for a common cause but that did not happen. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti, that had been the sole torch-bearer of the pro-Telangana movement since 2001, has not yet chalked out its future course after having severed its ties with the Congress in 2007. Both the TDP-Left combine and the Praja Rajyam Party have been wooing the TRS to forge an alliance but the wily K Chandrasekhar Rao, the TRS boss, has been cleverly playing his cards. In fact, the Congress too is desperate to restore its friendship with the separatist party, in whose company it fought the 2004 elections, and prevent a rout in the Telangana region. Even as the pro-integrated state party like the TDP reversed its stand on the demand for a separate state, going by the "wishes" of the people of the region, the Congress that rode to power on the promise of carving out Telangana still remained indecisive. The Bharatiya Janata Party, that has of late taken a strong pro-Telangana stand and promised to create the separate state in three months if voted to power at the Centre, has not yet consolidated its position. It spent time trying to make friends with pro-Telangana parties like NTP and also the newly-formed Praja Rajyam Party, which is also favourably-inclined towards a separate state. Its efforts, however, did not bear fruit in 2008. Spurred by the tremendous success of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-model of Dalit-upper caste alignment, some fringe players and caste groups in the state sought to set up platforms for all and sundry to proclaim their political ambitions in 2007. In 2008, all such elements have virtually sunk without a trace.