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Harikrishna splits Telugu Desam Party

M S Shanker in Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu's brother-in-law Nandamuri Harikrishna has split the Telugu Desam Party.

The breakaway group has been christened the Anna Telugu Desam.

Harikrishna, son of the late TDP founder Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, had raised the banner of revolt against the chief minister earlier this month.

Today's move formalises the division in Andhra Pradesh's ruling party.

Harikrishna said his party would live up to NTR's ideals by implementing pro-poor schemes such as cheap rice, subsidised power for the agricultural sector, and prohibition if voted to power in the assembly election due in November.

Harikrishna described Naidu's policies as pro-rich and declared his commitment to fight them.

He accused Naidu and his government of even shying away from NTR's name. Citing the example of the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, he said: "I don't know why they [the TDP] feel so ashamed to take my father's name. They not only stabbed him in the back, they also betrayed the people by capturing power through undemocratic means."

Ironically, Harikrishna had joined Naidu in the coup to dethrone NTR. Thereafter, he even joined Naidu's cabinet as transport minister. But he had to resign when he failed to fulfil the constitutional obligation of getting elected to the assembly within six months.

He later contested his late father's Hindupur seat in a by-election and won. But though Naidu has expanded his cabinet twice since then, Harikrishna has remained out of it.

Harikrishna, who had followed his father closely during the 1983, 1985 and 1989 election campaigns as the driver of his Chaitanya Ratham (chariot of awareness), chose to bide his time and remained content with the post of president of the Telugu Yuvatha, the TDP's youth wing.

Now, with the assembly election hardly 10 months away, he said it would be wrong on his part as a "worthy son" of NTR not to raise certain issues that were either diluted or buried totally by the party.

But Harikrishna waited till January 26 to announce the formation of his party on his astrologers's advice. Sources close to him said more than 50 TDP legislators and half-a-dozen MPs had expressed willingness to join him and fight the "hi-tech Naidu" who, they say, has alienated the rural voter.

Naidu's decision ten months ago to bail out the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee is another sore point with the rebels. They fear the move has further eroded the party's vote bank, and the minorities may stay away from it. The party's close relationship with the Communist parties has also been strained by the move.

The split will now make it tougher than ever for Naidu in the November assembly election, though the Opposition is divided.

The Harikrishna interview

The Andhra Pradesh page

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