05-13-2005, 04:48 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Parting politics </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Rare is the politician who has lost an election and has the courage to acknowledge the real reasons that cost him the race. Hence, Telugu Desam Party president and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu may be forgiven for claiming that his association with the Bharatiya Janata Party led to the TDP's resounding defeat in last year's elections. <b>More specifically, he has pinned the blame on the post-Godhra riots and the BJP's refusal to sack Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi</b>.
He has also cited the advancing of election dates and the drought in Andhra Pradesh as the other reasons that contributed to his loss of power. This is Mr Naidu's version, and he is entitled to it, never mind that a vast gulf separates his assessment from the truth. <b>Even before riots erupted in Gujarat, people in rural Andhra Pradesh were seething in anger over the TDP Government's inability to cope with the crisis caused by successive droughts that led to hundreds of farmers committing suicide. While Mr Naidu was being feted at Davos for converting Hyderabad into 'Cyberabad', the economy of the State was collapsing with remarkable speed.</b> He and his flatterers contemptuously ignored a World Bank study, explaining with empirical evidence the poor state of affairs in Mr Naidu's Andhra Pradesh.
<b>By depriving the people of Telengana-that was by design, not default-he managed to create a vast electorate of disgruntled people waiting for a chance to vote against him with zeal</b>. Mr Naidu cannot cite lack of Central funds for the deprivation Telengana suffered; <b>he extracted a heavy price in the form of Central aid for the TDP's support to the NDA. If he misgoverned, that is entirely his fault. And, he has only himself to blame for advancing the election dates</b>. Indeed, the BJP cannot be faulted for suggesting that it is the <b>TDP that is to blame for the NDA's defeat, instead of the other way round.</b>
The real reasons for Mr Naidu's blame game however lie elsewhere. Never a steadfast ally-he deserted the United Front of which he was the chairman to join ranks with the NDA-<b>he is seeking re-entry into national affairs through the expeditious route of "Third Front" politics </b>which is essentially the brainchild of the CPI(M). The Left is keen on forging a Third Front as a pressure group that will influence UPA policies and it is not surprising that it should be prepared to embrace Mr Naidu with open arms. It is another matter that there is no percentage for the TDP in looking for long-term gains through such an alliance. In India's firmly established bipolar polity, a Third Front shall forever remain a non-starter; at best it will serve the narrowest political interests of its constituent members.
<b>The BJP, therefore, need not be overtly bothered about losing an ally in Andhra Pradesh. On the contrary, the parting of ways opens a window of opportunity for the BJP to work on strengthening its State party that has suffered serious erosion of support, especially in Telengana region where it used to be a potent political force, on account of its alliance with the TDP. If the BJP is able to increase its share of the popular vote from eight per cent to twice that figure, Mr Naidu will find it convenient to dump Muslim voters and their 11 per cent vote for whom his heart cries today. Make no mistake about that.</b>
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
Rare is the politician who has lost an election and has the courage to acknowledge the real reasons that cost him the race. Hence, Telugu Desam Party president and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu may be forgiven for claiming that his association with the Bharatiya Janata Party led to the TDP's resounding defeat in last year's elections. <b>More specifically, he has pinned the blame on the post-Godhra riots and the BJP's refusal to sack Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi</b>.
He has also cited the advancing of election dates and the drought in Andhra Pradesh as the other reasons that contributed to his loss of power. This is Mr Naidu's version, and he is entitled to it, never mind that a vast gulf separates his assessment from the truth. <b>Even before riots erupted in Gujarat, people in rural Andhra Pradesh were seething in anger over the TDP Government's inability to cope with the crisis caused by successive droughts that led to hundreds of farmers committing suicide. While Mr Naidu was being feted at Davos for converting Hyderabad into 'Cyberabad', the economy of the State was collapsing with remarkable speed.</b> He and his flatterers contemptuously ignored a World Bank study, explaining with empirical evidence the poor state of affairs in Mr Naidu's Andhra Pradesh.
<b>By depriving the people of Telengana-that was by design, not default-he managed to create a vast electorate of disgruntled people waiting for a chance to vote against him with zeal</b>. Mr Naidu cannot cite lack of Central funds for the deprivation Telengana suffered; <b>he extracted a heavy price in the form of Central aid for the TDP's support to the NDA. If he misgoverned, that is entirely his fault. And, he has only himself to blame for advancing the election dates</b>. Indeed, the BJP cannot be faulted for suggesting that it is the <b>TDP that is to blame for the NDA's defeat, instead of the other way round.</b>
The real reasons for Mr Naidu's blame game however lie elsewhere. Never a steadfast ally-he deserted the United Front of which he was the chairman to join ranks with the NDA-<b>he is seeking re-entry into national affairs through the expeditious route of "Third Front" politics </b>which is essentially the brainchild of the CPI(M). The Left is keen on forging a Third Front as a pressure group that will influence UPA policies and it is not surprising that it should be prepared to embrace Mr Naidu with open arms. It is another matter that there is no percentage for the TDP in looking for long-term gains through such an alliance. In India's firmly established bipolar polity, a Third Front shall forever remain a non-starter; at best it will serve the narrowest political interests of its constituent members.
<b>The BJP, therefore, need not be overtly bothered about losing an ally in Andhra Pradesh. On the contrary, the parting of ways opens a window of opportunity for the BJP to work on strengthening its State party that has suffered serious erosion of support, especially in Telengana region where it used to be a potent political force, on account of its alliance with the TDP. If the BJP is able to increase its share of the popular vote from eight per cent to twice that figure, Mr Naidu will find it convenient to dump Muslim voters and their 11 per cent vote for whom his heart cries today. Make no mistake about that.</b>
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