Naidu eyes foothold in Telangana; will Khammam meet push his agenda?

The changing political scenario in Telangana seems to have presented an ideal opportunity for N Chandrababu Naidu to stage a comeback in the state.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) is making a bid for national politics by launching the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), the BJP’s popularity is acquiring a larger-than-life dimension, and Andhra’s YS Sharmila is floating a political party in the state. All these developments are being seen by the TDP as a dilution of the Telangana sentiment.

Naidu is now all set to make a second attempt to revive the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Telangana. His first attempt to recapture the lost ground in the state, in 2018, was thwarted by the TRS. To test the waters now, Naidu is going to address a public meeting in Khammam town on December 21.

Also read: How YS Sharmila has emerged as a serious player in Telangana politics

Khammam district was once a TDP stronghold. The Kamma caste, the real identity of TDP, has a dominating presence there. The caste grip in politics can be gauged from the fact that Kammas are invariably preferred to lead the units in the district by the majority parties.

How Khammam matters

According to a local journalist, keeping the importance of the Kammas in mind, Khammam has probably been chosen as the venue for the TDP’s first public meeting in Telangana after many years. “Even though prominent Kamma leaders left the TDP to join the TRS, the TDP still enjoys a modicum of sympathy among Kamma voters. Many Kammas still harbour the desire to see the TDP’s revival. Hence, the chances that Naidu’s meeting will be a success are bright,” the journalist opined.

Interestingly, the former undivided Khammam district was the only district where Praja Kutami of TDP-Congress-TJS-CPI delivered a stunning blow on the TRS in the 2018 elections by winning nine of the 10 Assembly constituencies. While the TDP had won two, the Congress bagged seven leaving only one (Khammam) to the TRS. This fact also may have weighed in support of Khammam as the venue of Naidu’s much-awaited public meeting.

Also read: TDP looks to edge into Telangana as KCR opens gates to go national

Another curious aspect of Khammam is that it was the venue of Naidu’s last batch of public meetings in Telangana four years back.  But, this time round, Khammam people will watch a different avatar of Naidu giving a new kind of message quite contrary to the one they had been offered on November 28, 2018.

Naidu and Hyderabad

The TRS had always portrayed Naidu as Andhrodu (Andhra fellow), a term that carries offensive connotations of ‘enemy of Telangana’. This strong anti-Naidu sentiment coupled with his alleged involvement in the ‘note for vote’ case forced him to abruptly shift his capital from Hyderabad to Amaravati in 2016.

Naidu had to quit Hyderabad despite the fact that he formed the government in Andhra Pradesh in 2014. Also, his party had won as many as 15 seats in the Telangana Assembly. The shifting of the capital took place even though Hyderabad was designated as the combined capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for 10 years by an act of Parliament. The shifting had closed the TDP’s chapter in Telangana.

Later, Naidu stopped visiting the state beyond his residence in Hyderabad, leaving the party to the local leaders. Not once did he dare to address a meeting outside Hyderabad to offer comfort to the party’s rank and file who were caught up in post-Telangana worries.

Also read: KCR’s TRS turns BRS: Masterstroke or misadventure?

Since the TDP did not contest any by-election, a feeling of frustration crept in among the senior leaders, and they were ready to be lured by rival parties. Many MLAs moved to the TRS, while party working president A Revanth Reddy chose the Congress. The situation got worse after the 2019 poll debacle and the remaining prominent leaders also jettisoned the party.

Naidu’s pre-poll alliance with Congress, the Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) and the CPI to forge a Praja Kutami (People’s Front) to fight the 2018 Assembly election in Telangana did not work. He was deployed as a star campaigner of the Kutami. In retaliation, the TRS whipped up anti-Andhra sentiment. TRS’ assault on Naidu had revolved around the single theme that the anti-Telangana Andhrodu was trying to enter Telangana again through the backdoor.

KCR openly declared that a vote for Naidu was a vote for Andhra’s dominance over Telangana again. His campaign worked wonders. Naidu’s alliance suffered a humiliating defeat. The TRS bagged as many as 87 seats in a house of 119, more than its 61 in 2014. Meanwhile, Congress’ strength fell to 19 from 21. The TDP won just two seats, a fall from 15 in 2014.

Role reversal

Addressing the public meeting of Praja Kutami on November 28, 2018 in Khammam, Naidu spewed anger on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and KCR. Sharing the dais with AICC chief Rahul Gandhi, he said that this was the beginning of an historical phase in Indian politics and the meeting would go down in history as a landmark.

Narrating how the NDA government had destroyed democratic institutions, Naidu said the ED, CBI, Income Tax department, RBI and the institution of governors had lost relevance in the country. He repeatedly asked the audience if they had derived any benefit from the four-and-a-half years of NDA rule. The TDP supremo lambasted the NDA government for demonetisation, stating that it resulted only in empty ATMs, cashless bank counters and plenty of black money.

Justifying his association with Congress, he said he was convinced by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s attempt to forge a front against NDA and the Praja Kutami in Telangana would be the beginning of the fall of NDA at the centre.

He also talked about the hatred the NDA regime was spreading against Muslims in the country, the repression unleashed against the Opposition parties and media. Stating that a vote for KCR in Telangana was a vote for BJP, he had called upon all the political parties to join the efforts of Rahul Gandhi to defeat NDA at the Centre. Naidu had equated TRS with NDA and BJP in his speech.

Also read: ‘Target KCR’ is BJP’s by-poll strategy in Telangana, not polarisation

Those were the days when TRS was a supporter of NDA policies. The party had extended support to all important decisions of the Modi  government including demonetisation and GST. Modi used to praise KCR’s governance and there was all-round speculation that TRS might join the NDA.

Now, the role reversal is complete. KCR is a bitter enemy of Modi and the BJP. He has repeatedly clarified that the objective of launching the BRS is only to defeat Modi’s BJP as no other party in the country has an effective strategy to defeat Modi and BJP.

On the other hand, the same Naidu who called upon the people to defeat the BJP and Modi at the Centre in 2018, is now eagerly waiting for a positive signal from Modi to embrace the BJP in the Telugu states. Against this ever-shifting political backdrop, what will Naidu tell the Khammam people on December 21, 2022?  How he will justify his role reversal remains a moot point.

Destabilising TRS government?

TRS Khammam district president and MLC Tata Madhusudan told The Federal that the TDP had no place in Telangana and people have already rejected the party. “TDP’s revival is impossible in T-state. Naidu is trying to destabilise the TRS government with his public meeting. What else will be the objective of a leader who, instead of working to strengthen his party in Andhra Pradesh, thinks of reviving the party in the neighbouring state?” Madhusudan asked.

Also read: BJP takes by-election route to expand presence in Telangana

However, the TDP is hopeful of a second coming in Telangana. Its  newly appointed state president Kasani Gnaneswar said backward castes have realised what they have lost by defeating the TDP in Telangana.

“After eight years of TRS rule, no section, particularly the OBCs, are happy. TDP always stood by OBCs in Telugu states. Every BC leader in the Telugu states owes his existence to TDP for its bold decision on BC reservations in local bodies. As for development, who laid the foundation for modern Hyderabad? Ask any brick of Hitech City to tell the story behind it. It tells the story of the TDP regime. The Khammam meeting will be a turning point not only for TDP but also Telangana state,” said Gnaneswar, the newly-appointed president of Telangana-TDP.