NEW DELHI: Ashoka Road in Central Delhi is today one of the most Important addresses in the national capital. It houses Andhra Bhavan, where 16 MPs belonging to Nara Chandrababa Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party and 16 of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party are holed up like a bunch of fugitives.

Earlier this week, the national spotlight alternated between Tamil Nadu House and Karnataka Bhawa here but now it is firmly focused on Andhra Bhavan where Naidu has been playing the Third Front’s Good Shepherd, keeping the flock of MPs in good humor and cheer.

For Naidu, 44, the job of reining in herds of notoriously schizophrenic supporters is nothing new, indeed, last year when Shankarsinnh Vaghela airlifted his ‘vulnerable’ band of Gujara BJP dissidents to Khajuraho; he was only taking a leaf out of Naidu serapbook.

In 1984, the current TJP chieftain and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister had masterminded 2 similar operation that sent busloads of his party MLAs to the holiday resort of Nandi Hills in Mysore to keep them away from the honey pot that pirate Chief Minister N. Bhaskara Rao dangled before them. It would marvelously and Bhuskara Rao soon fell by the wayside.

More recently, during his power struggle against mentor and father in law NTR. Naidu virtually kept his herd of supportive TDP MLAs under House arrest in & Hyderabad hotel until the head count was completed and he was made Chief Minister.

On Naidu, to a large extent, now rests. The Third Front’s chances of pulling the rug from under the Vajpayee government’s feet by May 31. He has been camping here for most of the last week and will be making only whistle-stop trips to Hyderabad till next for might’s day of reckoning.

Janata Dal spokesman Jaipal Reddy’s statement that they had asked Naidu to “stay put in the Capital for some more time” is emblematic of the TDP chief’s crucial role in current national politics. Apart from bolting the stable doors to prevent horse trading, he has constantly been in touch ~ with leaders of the constitutional parties, keeping morale high and hosting seemingly endless Front meetings. Last Week, when even veteran Front leaders panicked when Asom Cana Parishad supremo Prafulla Kamar Mahanta had appeared to have reneged on his opposition to the BJP, it was Naidu who poured oil over troubled waters, He telephoned Mahanta and, according to Jaipal Reddy, extracted a reassurance that there was no change in the AGP acne.

Naidu, with his 16 MPs, quickly emerged as one of the kingmakers along with the other regional satraps like G.K. Moopanar and M, Karunanidhi. The BJP has been mounting pressure on him ever since the election results were out through his friends in industry. But he has been holding out. The shrewd tactician that he is, Naidu decided to throw, his lot with the Third Front. His calculation is that the BJP will lose out in the number game. Making his moves cautiously, Naidu grabbed the initiative of bringing together the regional part and charting out a joint strategy. Initially he kept his options open but gradually veered towards the National Front Left Frost when it appeared to be up with a fair chance of making it. Small wonder, then, that Naida it” being perceived by the Third Front. At its equivalent of a cricketing pinch hitter. When the chips are down they have — been for Deve Gowda and Co, ever since, President Sharma invited Vajpayee to form the government  there’s nothing like hitting someone to force the pace, go after the rival team and put it on defensive.

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 22, 1996