States: Andhra Pradesh: Battle for Brownie Points

Discomfiture on the family front apart , Naidu's slugfest with the state Congress chief puts him on the defensive.

When Lakshmi Parvati, N.T. Rama Rao's sulking widow, called a press conference on April 10 and actually expressed confidence in N. Chandrababu Naidu's ministry, she could have Reddy

had anyone fooled. It appeared as if she was ready to bury the hatchet, even join hands with her estranged son-in-law. But it was not difficult to read between the lines. Ever the melodramatic actor, she spoke with tears in her eyes about how she had been robbed of jewellery and cash, worth over Rs 2.3 crore, by "trusted lieutenants" in whose custody they were for the past two years. And about how the only way she could get them back was through state intervention.

REDDY'S FRESH TIRADE	CM'S DEFENCE
ť Naidu is guilty of maladministration and misdemeanour. ť Pro-TDP contractors were favoured under the Janmabhoomi scheme. ť World Bank loans will render the state eternally debt-ridden.	ť Challenges Congress to hold a public debate or referendum. ť Denies but asks district collectors to detect irregularities. ť Says debt under TDP reign is lower than during Congress rule.

For that to happen, she would have to first repose faith in the Government, and more important let the fact be known. She has been accusing an industrialist, Krishnam Raju, of keeping Rs 2 crore in cash, which she claims was given to her by AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha at the time of floating the NTR-TDP. The jewellery, she alleged, was with a family doctor, Anil Kumar, who refused to return them despite several reminders. Raju and Kumar have been contesting the claims and Kumar's lawyer has even sent a notice demanding an apology. But Parvati is determined to fight back -- with the Gov ernment's help. The purpose of expressing faith in the Naidu ministry was thus self-limited. "There is no way that I will be on Naidu's side, not in this lifetime," she told India Today, dispelling any misconceptions about a political realignment with him.

For Naidu, it meant that the nuisance value of Parvati, like that of Harikrishna -- NTR's third son who has been campaigning against the chief minister on his chaitanya ratham -- was intact. "The complaint will be investigated like any other by the police," was all that he said following Parvati's appeal. The anti-climax of the family drama, if anything, had come as an untimely embarrassment. With assembly elections barely seven months away, it is another issue for the nitpicking Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the state Congress president, to exploit.

And that seems to be the larger worry. A bitter slugfest between the two leaders in the past few months has put Naidu on the defensive, under pressure to counter Reddy's innumerable charges. The Congress, on its part, fears that Naidu will earn mileage through the various welfare programmes his Government has launched. Among these are Janmabhoomi, an infrastructure-related self-help scheme, Adarna for skilled artisans from the backward classes, Mundadugu for Scheduled Castes, Chaitanya for the Scheduled Tribes and Adab for the Muslims.

Reddy has been alleging that these welfare schemes are fraught with various lapses and irregularities, including diversion of funds. In fact, Congress activists are collecting details about how the Government had spent Rs 1,523 crore under Janmabhoomi. Reddy alleges that 99 per cent of the jobs have been awarded to pro-TDP contractors who have inflated estimates and bills to compensate for the lack of local participation.

Naidu initially rubbished the charges. "We are trying to bring in a new political culture where ushering in development with a human face are the watchwords," he said. But last week, he directed all 23 district collectors to create vigilance cells, conduct quality checks and detect any anomalies in the scheme. Just two days earlier, Congress President Sonia Gandhi visited two Telangana districts accusing the TDP of failing to provide adequate health cover to the rural poor, leading to avoidable deaths.

The big loans taken by the Government from the World Bank for restructuring the economy and the state's power generation and transmission systems are also a subject of controversy. "This is a pro-rich measure. It will make the state debt-ridden forever," argues Reddy. Countering it, Finance Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju says the rise in public debt in the past four years of TDP rule was lower at 84.44 per cent compared to the growth of 89.10 per cent during the five-year Congress reign. Naidu maintains that the loans amounting to Rs 7,500 crore would be made available over the next five years for primary education, health, irrigation and power reforms.

"There is also a lot of hype about Naidu's ability to attract investment," says Reddy. His contention: last year, Karnataka topped in attracting foreign direct investment with a 16.31 per cent share amounting to Rs 5,027 crore while Andhra Pradesh was in the lowly fifth place with a 7.58 per cent share amounting to Rs 2,337 crore. Naidu, however, insists that Hyderabad is the favourite destination of global info-tech companies and that infrastructure is being developed to make the state more investor-friendly.

But economic restructuring, it is feared, could create problems for Naidu as he has stuck to the increase in electricity tariff and pushed ahead with the creation of separate corporations for transmission and distribution of power. It is to make political capital out of this and mar Naidu's image of a "pro-reforms chief minister" that Reddy had earlier raised questions about the TDP chief's assets. He is now planning to drag Naidu to court on some counts.

The chief minister too tried to look for skeletons in Reddy's cupboard but in a pre-emptive move, the state Congress chief released a list of his assets. "I have been filing tax returns for the past 30 years, so let them come out with details of my property," he said.

The battle of one-upmanship between the two also had Naidu appealing to the Election Commission for the disqualification of Reddy from electoral contests as a number of criminal cases are pending against him. But Reddy dismissed the charges saying they were minor poll-related cases. In an open questionnaire, the TDP asked Sonia why she was still retaining Reddy as the state party chief.

Poking into the internal affairs of a rival is not the business of a party. But as the election draws near, Naidu and the TDP are apprehensive of Reddy's growing clout and ability to mobilise support. Every time Reddy accuses him of mismanaging the state, Naidu challenges him to hold a public debate or referendum on the issue. But the state Congress chief is willing to wait. "Naidu is a rank opportunist and shrewd manipulator who will be tried in the people's court later this year," he says. Surely the two leaders must know there's more to electoral success than scoring brownie points.