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Oppn targets Jagan govt as political row erupts before 2024
BJP state unit chief Daggubati Purandeswari alleged that the police did not follow set procedure in arresting the TDP chief
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s arrest early on Saturday morning triggered a political uproar in the state, with all opposition parties condemning the move, even as analysts maintained it will send the cadre of both TDP and ruling YSR Congress Party into hyperdrive months before the simultaneous elections to state assembly and Lok Sabha.
The development, according to political analysts, will also exacerbate widening fault lines between chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and his predecessor Naidu in the run-up to the crucial polls.
Elections to the legislative assembly, which has 175 members, and the 25 Lok Sabha seats are held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh.
In a state where much of the political narrative is defined by the two regional powerhouses, the arrest of three-time former chief minister Naidu attracted condemnation from both newly formed opposition bloc INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), besides actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena.
“If there is really a case, he should be served prior notice. Why should the police create so much hungama (ruckus)?” said state Congress working president N Tulasi Reddy.
The TDP is not part of the INDIA bloc, which has been constituted to take on the BJP in the 2024 parliamentary elections. Naidu, however, has met top BJP leaders like Union home minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda over the past three months, fuelling speculation of joining the NDA.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit chief Daggubati Purandeswari alleged that the police did not follow set procedure in arresting the TDP chief. “In fact, his [Naidu’s] name was not mentioned in the FIR [first information report] at all and the police did not even bother to at least take his explanation in the case,” she said.
The state unit of the BJP has so far remained non-committal publicly on a possible alliance with the TDP.
“When a person is arrested as per the law, there must be a reasonable cause and certain procedures must be followed. Otherwise, one is forced to think it is an act of partisanship,” said BJP national secretary Y Satya Kumar.
Pawan Kalyan, who left for Vijaywada to meet the TDP chief, termed the development an “act of vengeance” by chief minister Reddy.
“Prima facie, there is no evidence against Naidu but the Jagan government is resorting to political witch-hunt,” the actor-politician alleged in a statement.
Meanwhile, TDP’s Vijayawada MP, Kesineni Nani, dashed off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention. The letter said that Naidu had dedicated 45 years of his life to serving the nation and was widely known as a “clean and principled leader”.
The ruling YSRCP, however, rejected these allegations.
“He was arrested only after the police gathered strong evidence in the skill development scam, which is the worst economic offence in the history of Independent India,” YSRCP general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said.
With crucial assembly and parliamentary elections less than a year away, political analysts said Naidu’s arrest would have a clear bearing on the campaign in the run-up to the polls.
“This is a controversial and contentious move of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government which will galvanise both parties into hyper election mode months before the scheduled polls,” political analyst and author Sriram Karri said.
The move comes at a time when Naidu, who was the first chief minister of divided Andhra Pradesh post the state’s bifurcation in 2014, and his TDP have been making efforts to revive themselves politically after hitting historic lows in 2019.
In the 2019 assembly elections, Naidu’s party managed to win only 23 of the 175 seats, coming a distant second to YSSRCP, which won an impressive 151 seats. In the simultaneous Lok Sabha polls, the TDP won only three of the 25 seats, losing the other 22 to the YSRCP.
It is still unclear, Karri said, whether Naidu’s arrest would benefit the TDP or the YSRCP. “It will depend on how the neutral voters react. At this stage, the jury is still out.”
Another political analyst Ramesh Kandula said though the move reeks of revenge, the calculation could have been that the TDP would become rudderless if Naidu was in jail for a few months. “If that happens, the opposition could panic and that would help the YSRCP return to power,” Kandula said. “It is key how this move is received by the people.”
