NAIDU PLANS 1996 REPEAT, WITH DEVE GOWDA AS PM
tion party, Naidu wants the Congress to play the second fiddle and reserve the PM post for a regional leader, Gowda, as he is from the South and a veteran nonCongress figure.
According to those who accompanied him to Bengaluru, Naidu was the centre of attention for all non-Congress leaders who wanted to take further the spirit of Karnataka’s coalition experiment and urged him to take the lead. Even Deve Gowda was keen on Naidu taking an active role in national politics and congratulated him for walking out of the NDA two months ago.
Naidu, who has been going through a low moment in Andhra politics, thanks to friend-turned-foe BJP and an aggressive YSR Congress leader, Jagan Mohan Reddy, is elated over the response he got from the regional leaders in Bengaluru. “Perhaps, this is the happiest moment for him (Naidu) in recent days,” said an official in the CM office.
The Andhra CM is expected to hold a conclave of regional parties either in New Delhi or in Amaravati to forge greater unity before the next elections. Mamata Banerjee and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury specifically asked Naidu to take the initiative. To begin with, a conclave of non-BJP parties will be held, based on the rights of the states and the federal structure.
Naidu is aware of the efforts being made by several leaders to forge a federal front or a third front at the Centre. Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been touring several states and meeting regional leaders to muster their support for a federal front of his own version, while Mamata Banerjee is actively encouraging whoever wants to take on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Naidu is also aware of Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s efforts to rub shoulders with regional chieftains who are away from the BJP camp. But for Naidu’s plan to succeed, a scenario has to emerge where the Congress is left far behind, and provides support to a gov- ernment formed by regional parties. Naidu hopes to preside over such a coalition like he did in 1996 when he was the United Front convener. Andhra special representative in Delhi and former MP Kambhampati Rammohan Rao told this newspaper that Naidu had the experience of being in a leadership role at the Centre. “He (Naidu) has all the political and administrative experience and acceptability among many regional parties and the Left camp,” said Rao. In fact, Naidu even said this at a TDP convention in Hyderabad on Friday: “I am the senior most Chief Minister in the country and even senior to PM Modi in politics. I can run national politics and would be playing a key role in Delhi after 2019.” At the same time, he made it clear that he would continue to be the Chief Minister in Andhra.
“I got an opportunity to become the PM twice in the mid 1990s when Gowda and I.K. Gujral were selected as PM eventually. But I decided to stick to AP as CM as I wanted to serve my people,” said Naidu.
BJP MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao downplayed CM Naidu’s comment, saying that the latter had declined the PM post knowing well that it would be a short-lived joy due to the conditions prevailing at the time.