Chandrababu Naidu looks to ride the Narendra Modi wave

NEW DELHI: From 1996 to 1998, TDP boss Chandrababu Naidu, then the popular CM of Andhra Pradesh who was feted for his pro-reforms stand, played the sheet anchor of the two United Front coalitions: a combination of non-BJP parties which Congress was forced to support from outside ostensibly to keep the "communal" BJP at bay.


As the convenor of the United Front, Naidu had such a crucial role that he could have become PM himself, had he willed so. He was instrumental in the selection of H D Deve Gowda and, afterwards, I K Gujaral as PMs during the arrangement that continued for two years until Congress decided to yank its support in 1998.

By 1999, Naidu was in the arena as an alliance partner of the BJP. Although he did not join the Vajpayee government, the strength of the partnership was borne by BJP's acquiescence to his insistence on letting his nominee G M Balayogi be the Speaker. He would get what he wanted from the Centre -- from development package and favourable schemes to higher allocation of foodgrains. In fact, he also influenced the timing of the 2004 elections.

The political turnaround was brought about by a hard nosed calculation: that the loss of Muslim votes because of a political partnership with the BJP would be more than compensated because of the gains that he could make among Hindus by riding on Atal Bihari Vajpayee's appeal which had spiked in the wake of the Kargil war.

As Naidu seeks to edge away from the "secular" bloc to avoid a Congress-YSR political pincer in Andhra Pradesh, he is being driven, according to TDP sources, by the same clear-eyed view: that an alliance with the Narendra Modi-led BJP will more than offset the hit he is sure to take if he were to align himself with the Hindutva strongman.

TDP sources said the party has begun to sniff an undercurrent for Modi in the state where BJP can scarcely claim to be a force. They said the phenomenon -- something akin to the goodwill that Vajpayee enjoyed -- is more pronounced among the youth, the middle classes in urban areas and can be a force multiplier for TDP in the Seemandhra area.