Monday, September 13, 2010

Less Sympathy For Chandrababu This Time Around

Not many days have passed since Chandrababu Naidu staged a brilliant political drama in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. He brought an entire entourage of his party, Telugu Desam, legislators and workers first in Nanded district. He was arrested and later shifted to Aurangabad where he continued his theatrics in true blood AP politics style.

What Naidu did at that point of time, just days ahead to by-elections for 12 seats in Telangana area of Andhra Pradesh, was widely perceived as his bid to regain foothold in the border line area adjacent to Maharashtra. As Telangana is poised to get statehood sooner or later, Naidu could scarcely afford to miss presence of his party in the new state. Hence, the issue of Babli dam issue proved handy to him.

Alas! Naidu's gameplan did not worked out the way he liked it to be. TDP was routed in the ensuing by-elections. Still, the opposition leader in AP Legislative Assembly must be commended for his guts to take on a mighty ruling party like Congress head on.

However, the modern leader who once pioneered IT revolution in India failed to gain a place among the pro-Telangana workers. The fact is underlined before us with an attack on Naidu's convoy in Rangareddy district today. The pro-Telangana activists attacked his convoy.

Why I reminded of the drama Naidu created last month at the start of this article? It is because Naidu will get no sympathy from people of Maharashtra this time around. Just six years ago, Naidu's convoy was attacked by Naxalite extremists en route Tirupati. He was Chief Minister of AP then. At the time, there was widespread affinity in Maharashtra for a daring leader who heralded new techniques and means for the benefit of the people.

But the TDP chief has diluted much of the appreciation because of his misadventure last month. The Marathi media hardly take note of this incident in positive light.

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