States: Andhra Pradesh: Master Stroke

Harikrishna plays his father NTR's pro-poor card to upstage CM Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party.

Like father, like son. Nandamuri Harikrishna is taking a leaf out of N.T. Rama Rao's (NTR) book. Barely a month after raising the banner of revolt against his brother-in-law and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, NTR's third son is trying to whip up passions among the people in the state. Seventeen years after NTR harped on the self-respect of the Telugus to defeat the Congress, Harikrishna is carrying the battle to further the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) patriarch's goals, aspirations and policies. Harikrishna, who recently founded the Anna Telugu Desam Party (ATDP), hit the road on February 1 with a five-day "Harigarjana" (roar of Hari) tour through dusty Telangana and will shortly criss-cross the state in the chaitanya ratham used by his father. His express purpose: to oust Naidu, the TDP president, from the chief minister's post.

Harikrishna has been drawing sympathetic crowds but like NTR he is not in a hurry to set up a party hierarchy. "The ATDP has to grow as a democratic movement of the people as they are the ultimate masters," says Harikrishna. His hopes are pinned on NTR's followers joining him on their own. Two TDP Rajya Sabha members, his brother-in-law D. Venkateswara Rao and Y. Lakshmi Prasad, are already by his side. S. Madhusudana Chary, the lone member of the NTR-TDP (a party floated by NTR's second wife Lakshmi Parvati) in the Assembly, has also pledged support.

Harikrishna has been moving at a hectic pace ever since he formed the ATDP on January 27 -- sharing with NTR the belief in the lucky number nine. His intention to defeat Naidu in the coming assembly election has the TDP chief clearly worried. "We have tried to dispel misapprehensions. The party has no intention of losing anyone," Naidu told partymen, fearing an exodus. He has asked his confidants to ensure there are no desertions from the ranks but a large number of TDP workers, miffed by the high-handed attitude of local leaders, are endorsing the ATDP.

"I formed the party to
uphold NTR's ideals"

Harikrishna

Harikrishna spoke to Associate Editor Amarnath K Menon soon after forming the Anna Telugu Desam Party. Excerpts:

Why did you launch the ATDP soon Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu presented the Vision 2020 document for Andhra Pradesh?
Naidu's concern is for his personal future and he is trying to erase the role of Annagaru (NTR) in working for the welfare of the Telugu people. He talks about the use of hi-tech tools which would benefit only the rich. This disgusting state of affairs has forced me to start this party.

Could you not set things right from within the TDP?
Those who identified with NTR and his philosophy have been marginalised. The only option for them is to leave the party.

Do you regret backing him after he replaced NTR as the chief minister?
No, because he promised to implement the party's manifesto and we all wanted to protect the party from Lakshmi Parvati's influence. Now it has been proved he cheated us.

Two other parties -- the Prajaswamya TDP of Bhaskara Rao and NTR-TDP -- have surfaced and faded. How is your effort going to be any different?
I will go around the state and explain how NTR's goals have been ignored. That is why I have not tried to create an organisation but am welcoming all those wanting to join us.

What is your ultimate goal? To become the chief minister?
The people will decide. All I want is that NTR's dreams and wishes are fulfilled.

Harikrishna is sharply focused on a positive strategy. He argues that NTR's dream to alleviate poverty and develop the state must be realised but avoids attacking chief minister unless provoked. "Naidu is on a self-destruct mode like Bhasmasura," says Harikrishna, relying on mythological allusions in true NTR style. He is confident that many more leaders -- including those who joined the Congress frustrated with Naidu's policies -- will desert the TDP and join the ATDP in the run up to the polls. "Naidu's reformist zeal is limited to projecting himself as the unchallenged leader. The people have begun to see through it," says Venkateswara Rao, whose suave wife Purandareswari -- who happens to be Harikrishna's elder sister -- has joined the campaign against Naidu. Harikrishna, however, is unclear whether NTR's welfare programmes, subsidised heavily by the state, can be sustained. A think tank, comprising bureaucrats and academicians, is examining the costs involved which will help the ATDP spell out the details in the coming weeks.

Naidu is wary of Harikrishna because, unlike those who rebelled against the TDP leadership in the past, the ATDP chief has the innate ability to hit back. That is why he preferred to ignore Harikrishna's outbursts rather than expel him from the TDP like he did with filmstar Mohan Babu and one-time trusted lieutenant and Cuddapah Zilla Parishad Chairman N. Tulasi Reddy. A regular during NTR's barnstorming tours of the state since the founding of the TDP in 1982, Harikrishna knows the style and substance of his father's speeches which swayed the masses. Borrowing from that experience, he appears in a khaki shirt and trousers and gesticulates with his left hand while lacing his speeches with some of NTR's favourite phrases. He tells the crowds how he started the ATDP "unable to stomach the disrespect shown to NTR's promises" and asks them to give him a chance to fulfil NTR's ideals.

"Naidu is a benevolent dictator who gets things done through a handful of yes men," says Harikrishna. "He has betrayed the people's trust, deceived the party cadres and arrogated to himself the authority to run the party and government." It is this compulsion that is making him play a larger role in Andhra politics. He believes that people have already decided Naidu will not continue as chief minister beyond 1999.

Given his remarkable manipulative skills, Naidu may try to drive a wedge between emerging ATDP leaders or prop up one of NTR's children -- other than his wife -- against Harikrishna. But that may not be an easy task. "Many of them harbour a deep sense of hurt and back Harikrishna," says an NTR family friend. In their hearts NTR's immediate family members fear that Naidu will give them the short shrift. The ATDP is bound to take advantage of this sentiment and play up the chief minister's "anti-poor performance". For Naidu the real challenge to his leadership is about to begin.