The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
A demi-god, a son-in-law, two coups, and two hotels
AS HE watched, and watched over, the events unfolding in Tamil Nadu last week, interim governor C Vidyasagar Rao perhaps had a few chuckles to himself.
In 1995, Rao had been a BJP MLA from Metpalli, in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, a bit player but with a ringside view of the bloodless coup staged by a young N Chandrababu Naidu against his legendary father-in-law N T Rama Rao. A highlight of that drama 22 years ago was Naidu closeting 150 MLAS in a hotel in Hyderabad, right under then chief minister NTR’S nose.
But then neither Naidu nor NTR were new to this game. In August 1984, while NTR was away in the US for a heart surgery, his finance minister N Bhaskara Rao had led a revolt with the Congress’s help. From his hospital bed, NTR had ensured that a majority of the Telugu Desam Party MLAS (at least 160 out of 201) were shepherded by Naidu to his Ramakrishna Studios at Hyderabad’s Golconda Junction. They were there till NTR returned, six days later.
“Although the studio had rudimentary facilities, the MLAS were treated royally. Apart from packets of biryani and Andhra meals, pastries were delivered from a nearby bakery. The MLAS had full freedom but were not allowed out. They could also make calls from the two landline phones in the office,” recalls Daggubati Venkateshwara Rao, the husband of NTR’S daughter D Puranderashwari, who was one of the MLAS inside.
The movie library in the studio came in handy, smiles Daggubati. “Several films starring NTR were screened every day to keep us entertained.afterntrarrived,themlaswere taken to New Delhi in a train and paraded in front of President Giani Zail Singh.”
Bhaskara Rao tried to get the MLAS out by ordering Hyderabad Police Commissioner K Vijayarama Rao to raid the studio. “When he went there, the MLAS told the commissioner they were there on their own volition. In spite of several attempts, Bhaskara Rao could not get in touch with the TDP MLAS to seek their support. Chandrababu Naidu, S Jaipal Reddy who was with the Janata Party at the time and an ally of the TDP, and M Venkaiah Naidu of the BJP guarded Ramakrishna Studios until NTR arrived,” a deputy commissioner of police at the time says.
Even after parading them before the President,ntrdidn’tletthemlasoutofsight. “Knowing that the Bhaskara Rao faction was tryingtocontacthismlas,atthelastmoment, NTR decided not to return to Hyderabad but instead flew the MLAS to Bengaluru, from where they were taken in buses to a resort in Nandi Hills, which had been arranged by then Karnataka CM Ramakrishna Hegde (of the Janata Party). The MLAS had a gala time there; lazingaroundintheswimmingpoolorplaying cards in the cottages. NTR had left word with the managers to pamper the MLAS. On September 9 (25 days later), the MLAS were taken to Hyderabad in buses for a show of strength, after which NTR was reinstated as CM on September 16. I think this was the first instance,atleastinsouthindianpolitics,where MLAS had to be hidden,” Daggubati says.
Naidu did a repeat exactly 10 years later, in August 1995. By then, an ailing NTR seemed set to hand over the reins of the TDP and governmenttohissecondwifelakshmiparvathy, who was 33 years younger than him. Unhappiness ran deep in the TDP over this. Naidu first met around 20 MLAS at Dolphin Hotel on the Visakhapatnam seashore. “The MLAS told him that the mood among the TDP MLAS was anti-ntr and almost all of them would support Naidu if he took over. Naidu then dashed to Hyderabad and began contacting the TDP MLAS. They arrived in Hyderabad to meet Naidu, who lodged himself in Viceroy Hotel facing the Secretariat. By the time NTR got wind of what was happening, there were 150 MLAS inside the hotel,” a former MLA who was part of that coup, and who doesn’t want to be named, recollects.
The hotel at the centre of the city didn’t offer the outdoor luxuries of the resort at Nandi Hills, but the MLAS kept themselves busy. The EX-MLA recalls playing cards, dancing to Telugu hits, ordering in food and, keeping the hotel staff awake all night. Cable wasn’t an option then, so MLAS demanded video cassette players to watch movies.
Naidu himself sat in the office of Viceroy Hotels MD P Prabhakar Reddy, working the phones. Prabhakar Reddy is the son of then Janata Party state president P Babul Reddy.
Dr S A Khaleel Basha, the TDP MLA from Kadapa at the time, says they had their tense moments. “A reporter told us over phone that N T Rama Rao had written to the governor recommending dissolution of the Assembly. None of us were prepared for polls within a year and a half of getting elected.”
In hindsight, Basha believes that was a big mistake by NTR. “He was naïve to recommend dissolution of the Assembly. That angeredthemlas.thesympathyforhimturned into ire.”
J C Diwakar Reddy, now in the TDP but then a Congress MLA from Tadipatri, says he had snuck into the hotel along with a friendly TDP MLA to see what the TDP MLAS were up to. “They were having the time of their lives; pampered and indulged under the watchful eye of Chandrababu Naidu,” Reddy laughs.
For the state that had seen NTR’S phenomenal rise not long ago, his fall from grace was nothing short of shocking. “Naidu did not allow anyone to meet the MLAS for a week. Their faith in Naidu was such that when NTR arrived at the hotel on the third day of the coup in his Chaitanya Ratham (a van converted into a chariot), that he used for campaigning, none of the MLAS met him. They still respected NTR but the sight of Parvathy beside him put them off,” Reddy says.
As NTR kept appealing to the MLAS using a loudspeaker, someone threw a chappal towards him, while another started abusing Parvathy.“ntrstoodthereforamomentinsilence, nodded sadly at Parvathy, and both left,” a former MLA says.
The man once considered almost a demigod and still the CM of the state at the time never recovered from the shock. On September 1, 1995, Naidu took over as the CM, and has stayed the head of the TDP since. In 2014, he was re-elected Andhra CM.
After trying her hand at forming a party, Parvathy recently joined the YSR Congress. But she spends most of her time at her home in Filmnagar, where she moved after NTR’S bungalow in Banjara Hills was demolished by his family members.
Sitting beside a life-size photo of NTR in the visitors’ room at her home, Parvathy says that as her savings ran out, “the few leaders loyal to NTR also left one by one”.
She adds that the revolt surprised NTR. Just before the MLAS sided with Naidu, he had been with NTR on a tour of coastal Andhra Pradesh districts, she remembers. “When and why he and the other MLAS decided to meet at Vizag, I do not know. I was told by someone that a few TDP MLAS could be expelled for anti-party activities and that there was a lot of resentment against NTR for this. Even I was targeted with all kinds of allegations.”
For a long time, Parvathy says, NTR thought the tide would turn, as “people were with him”. “He said the MLAS at the Viceroy Hotel were like misled children and so he decided to go there himself. Only when he was humiliated did he realise that it was all over. After he was dislodged as the CM and TDP president, he lost all interest in politics and stayed at home, not speaking to anyone. He died of a broken heart.”