TDP disgraced in Rajya Sabha to zero, as YSRCP scores cent per cent; Will luck favour Chandrababu again?

HYDERABAD: Prof C Lakshmanna, Yalla Sashibhishan Rao, Puttapaga Radhakrishna, B Satyanarayana Reddy, led by Parvataneni Upendra are the first set of five leaders elevated to the position of members of parliament in the Rajya Sabha by the Telugu Desam Party, opening its account with a bang.

Practically, the first set of MPs from the party as it didn’t have any MP by then in the Upper House.

Gotte Bhupati belonging to the present Rajanna Sircilla district was the first ever Member of Parliament to have stepped into the Lok Sabha on behalf of the TDP in 1983. He won a by-election held for the Peddapalli Lok Sabha seat.

The five Rajya Sabha members were the next. End of 1984, stunning the entire nation, the TDP under NT Rama Rao’s leadership emerged as the main Opposition in the Lok Sabha with 36 MPs from Andhra Pradesh. One of the most respected parliamentarians from Telangana (Adilabad Lok Sabha seat) C Madhava Reddy was elected the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

From that level of an honour, the TDP had actually fallen from grace. This is the first time the party will have zero representation from April 2024 in the Rajya Sabha. With its insufficient numbers in the Assembly of truncated Andhra Pradesh, the TDP did not dare to field its contestant too in the fray leaving the ground fully open to the YSR Congress.

The YSR Congress earned the distinction of having 100 percent of its own Rajya Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh. The State has a quota of 11 Rajya Sabha seats and with Tuesday’s declaration of the election of three MPs, YV Subba Reddy, Meda Raghunatha Reddy and Golla Babu Rao, the YSRCP will have 11 out of 11 Rajya Sabha members from the State from April.

Number spinner, Machiavellian politician

TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu who masterminded Rajya Sabha polls and gave new spin to the arithmetic by beating the opponents hollow had his nominees, despite insufficient numbers, fielded and elected to the Upper House. Once it was Daggubati Venkteswara Rao (meticulously pitted as an independent against Deccan Chonicle’s T Venkatram Reddy, also an independent) and another time it was Kimidi Kala Venkata Rao who made it to the Upper House as the last contest was eliminated in the electoral process during counting of the preferential votes.

Such a Machiavellian politician with multiple capabilities to redefine election process with his deep manoeuvring skills, Nara Chandrababu Naidu was looked up in awe those days by all.

Very tall leaders like HD Deve Gowda, IK Gujral and for that matter even PV Narasimha Rao (passively, though) let him be the convener of United Front for his skills of manipulation and management of political permutations and combinations.

From the position of United Front convener, Naidu easily slid into the role of convener of the National Democratic Alliance. The Vajpayees and Advanis acquiesced to his being in the driver seat.

It’s that Chandrababu Naidu, who is now nebbish and is yearning for condescension of his juniors like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sub-juniors like Home Minister Amit Shah.

In their company, indeed, Naidu titters. What’s pushing him to that corner is surely not arcane. It’s for now political harakiri.

Taking on or making up with ‘mighty’ BJP ?

The tallest politician, with the support of just one MP in the reckoning - K Ramamohan Naidu, as Galla Jayadev hung up his boots and Kesineni Nani crossed the floor; and the lone Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar retiring from the Rajya Sabha, has to adjust to the tantrums thrown at it by the “mighty” BJP. The boss of the NDA (the BJP) may not leave him with just arm-twisting, but wouldn’t hesitate to asphyxiate him in the bargain for MP seats that too if it condescends to let Naidu enter the NDA. After all Naidu has been caught in a cul de sac and cannot walk back. He somehow has to appease the BJP even if it’s a costly mistake.

With modern techniques of political warfare at command, the BJP is acting like his master. The YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh is taking on him head-on with all its “fingers tapping” (an equivalent to all guns blazing in a physical warfare) in the world of ChatGPTs and Artificial Intelligence that spread its tentacles even to political war. How much of returns Chandrababu Naidu’s antediluvian practices would fetch him is now a trillion dollar question.

Though he is demonstrating an unstinted valour to fight his next generation in the State, he surely is knackered.

The TDP is for now is dependent on steroid supplements like Jana Sena and the BJP. While the BJP has nothing to lose but to gain with or with the alliance with the TDP, the Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan is treated by most people and politicians as ultracrepidarian, going by his antics and angularities.

Though Naidu is not a dinkum politico in that sense, he’s evoking a sense of pitifulness among his long last associates and acquaintances. Will that percolate down to the people? No one knows. But the mood in the TDP is portrayed to be upbeat, albeit on record.

Shouldn’t let alliance partners gobble him up

His circumlocutory approach is surely pinning him down and he should be so much alert that he should not let his craving for alliances devour him and his party’s existence.

Whether his unrelenting efforts ever since he lost power in 2019 to oust Jagan and capture the seat again bear fruit is a trillion-dollar question, factoring in the cost of political inflation.

If the TDP wins good number of seats in 2024 Assembly elections and if it can capture power, it can hope to send its leaders to the Upper House when the next biennial election happens. If for any reason, it’s decimated the way it was uprooted last time, that will be the end of TDP era in Rajya Sabha to begin with.

The future of the party hinges on Naidu’s knowledge, ability, skill. And, for that matter, Naidu’s everything.

The universe must conspire in order for him to win. For now, let’s keep our fingers crossed.