It’s Payback Time For Chandrababu Naidu

Y Satyanarayana

For four years now, Chandrababu has been doing the flip-flops he is known for, thinking that he will get away with it. In the first few months of assuming office when he could have pushed for Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh, as incorporated in the state Reorganisation Act, he made no pitch for it. The Union Cabinet, had sent its recommendations to the Planning Commission in March 2014, after it cleared SCS to the state. The Planning Commission had these recommendations for seven months, during which the state could easily have got SCS.

One wonders what Chandrababu Naidu's priorities were? At any rate, SCS was not one of them. At the time of bifurcation, Manmohan Singh had announced SCS for AP in the Rajya Sabha in Feb 2014 to which Venkaiah Naidu then added that it should be given for at least ten years under the given circumstances. Later, during the course of electioneering, Narendra Modi had given the credit for securing Special Category Status to Venkaiah Naidu. This was in May 2014.

The BJP stormed to power and in a matter of no time, the subject of SCS to Andhra Pradesh was put on the backburner. As for Chandrababu Naidu, his focus shifted to Polavaram, construction work related to Amaravati, and of course, a Special Package. In the early months of assuming office, Chandrababu pointed out that a Special Package was by far more beneficial to the state. Didn't the AP Chief Minister say that the north-eastern states did not benefit from SCS? Didn't he claim that in spite of SCS, the north-eastern states remained under-developed industrially?

Also Read: YSRCP MPs Ready Resignations Over SCS To AP

How did Chandrababu come to the sudden realization that SCS was AP's lifeline when he had, all along, been taking a diametrically opposite line? He had earlier claimed that SCS was no Sanjeevini (panacea) to the state and ridiculed those fighting for it. The TDP government had earlier cracked down on students and activists waging a struggle for SCS.

What do some of the latest moves of Chandrababu tell us? For one thing, he stands completely exposed, politically. It is evident that he discovered virtues in SCS only after the relentless struggle being waged for the cause by AP Leader of Opposition and YSRCP chief, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, found resonance across the state. During the course of his mass contact initiative, Praja Sankalpa Yatra, YS Jagan has been repeatedly stressing upon the need for SCS to AP which would help the state to prosper economically, for it to achieve industrial progress and for the resultant generation of jobs. The sheer scale of response which the YSRCP chief's padayatra has evoked everywhere, has clearly rattled Chandrababu Naidu. The simmering discontent with the TDP regime, the many betrayals people had been subjected by Chandrababu Naidu, especially on SCS, harassment by Janmabhoomi committees in villages, denial of basic facilities, discrimination on the basis of political affiliation, not to speak of widespread corruption—these are some of the major triggers for the seething anger against the Chandrababu-led TDP government.

Added to that is the fact that the YSRCP has been crystal-clear in its approach and transparent in its stand on SCS to the state. It first intensified the agitation on SCS, put pressure on the Centre, thus forcing Chandrababu to rethink his strategy of settling for a special package which amounts to bartering the interests of the state. In September 2016, Chandrababu welcomed the special package to AP and in fact, sang praises of the NDA. Arun Jaitley only repeated in March 2018, what he had said then.

Chandrababu has had to do a complete u-turn following YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's decision to move a no-trust vote. After having been an alliance partner for four years, Chandrababu pretended to quit the NDA in a huff. He had been completely checkmated by YSRCP. With nowhere to hide, he first said that he would back the no-trust motion against NDA moved by Ongole MP, YV Subba Reddy, on behalf of YSRCP. In a day, he backtracked and claimed that the TDP would move its own motion of no-confidence against the NDA government.

Overnight, Chandrababu tried to position himself as a champion of the SCS cause. The problem with him and all his cronies,is that they live in a bubble. This is something they created for themselves with the help of media houses which have over the years, helped them in this image-building exercise. Does Chandrababu Naidu really believe that he can tango back and forth on Special Category Status and expect the people of the state to get deceived by him, again?