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Robertmugabe
Celebrity Bewarse
Username: Robertmugabe
Post Number: 5677
Registered: 10-2006
Posted From: 69.248.187.75
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:24 am: |
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Stud:ee okka point thappa, migathavanni neutral gane rsadu ga?
adhee main point kadha.. |
Stud
Mudiripoyina Bewarse
Username: Stud
Post Number: 2944
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 75.73.129.107
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:22 am: |
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Vizagyouth:
N janardhan reddy riots cheyinchadu ani accusation vundhi ani rasadu
idento naaku ardham kaledhu....malal factin leader NJR annadu....ee okka point thappa, migathavanni neutral gane rsadu ga?
Jai Anna Jai Jai Anna
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Vizagyouth
Yavvanam Kaatesina Bewarse
Username: Vizagyouth
Post Number: 1673
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 167.127.218.64
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:10 am: |
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Aadi parri research..
N janardhan reddy riots cheyinchadu ani accusation vundhi ani rasadu
BTDB Ishant Sharma Fans President
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Blazewada
Bewarse Legend
Username: Blazewada
Post Number: 10642
Registered: 08-2008
Posted From: 202.124.30.8
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:07 am: |
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Nanee:neredu pallu mingings....
repu mustafa eltunna, akkada techukovali, alage kesar mamidi rasalu techukovali...
Jai Anushka, Jai Jai Ileana , Jai Jai Jai Siya
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Blazewada
Bewarse Legend
Username: Blazewada
Post Number: 10641
Registered: 08-2008
Posted From: 202.124.30.8
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:06 am: |
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Green_nature:Special gaa interest ledhu baa, yeppudanna kanapadithey okato theesukoni namulutha....
general gaa noru dolaga untey junk food tintunna,
ippduu sinna change dates, fruits tintunna.
office elagoo applease kayals edataru, intlo kooda oka packet untadi eppudoo. ika bananas,strawberrys kooda.
Jai Anushka, Jai Jai Ileana , Jai Jai Jai Siya
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Nanee
Bewarse Legend
Username: Nanee
Post Number: 13375
Registered: 08-2009
Posted From: 124.123.195.182
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:06 am: |
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neredu pallu mingings....
Tsamina mina eh eh..Waka Waka eh eh..Tsamina mina zangalewa..Anawa aa..This time for Africa
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Green_nature
Bewarse Legend
Username: Green_nature
Post Number: 46971
Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 62.12.14.27
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:05 am: |
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Proofdada:dates nakkoda tega ittam sett ba...
yelugu bantlu kooda thintayi....
Kakatheeyulam....
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Green_nature
Bewarse Legend
Username: Green_nature
Post Number: 46970
Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 62.12.14.27
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:04 am: |
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Blazewada:meku dates ishtam ledaaa. sudi dates ostayi keka untayi
Special gaa interest ledhu baa, yeppudanna kanapadithey okato theesukoni namulutha....
Kakatheeyulam....
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Proofdada
Bewarse Legend
Username: Proofdada
Post Number: 82635
Registered: 03-2004
Posted From: 85.125.191.204
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:03 am: |
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dates nakkoda tega ittam sett ba...
oka GaaliJ, oka Yeesu, oka Geddam
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Blazewada
Bewarse Legend
Username: Blazewada
Post Number: 10640
Registered: 08-2008
Posted From: 202.124.30.8
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:02 am: |
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Green_nature:
meku dates ishtam ledaaa. sudi dates ostayi keka untayi 
Jai Anushka, Jai Jai Ileana , Jai Jai Jai Siya
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Green_nature
Bewarse Legend
Username: Green_nature
Post Number: 46967
Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 62.12.14.27
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 8:01 am: |
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Blazewada:intikelli opigga oka round dates tini, juice tagi energy techukoni saduvuthaa...
 ....
Kakatheeyulam....
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Stud
Mudiripoyina Bewarse
Username: Stud
Post Number: 2943
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 75.73.129.107
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 7:59 am: |
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Fedex:
Fedex
vijvasi kurrod ki seppali..
chala research chesi rasaru aa paper...
Jai Anna Jai Jai Anna
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Fedex
Mudiripoyina Bewarse
Username: Fedex
Post Number: 3221
Registered: 01-2010
Posted From: 72.201.21.84
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 - 12:15 am: |
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Stud:
Thanks Stud mama....nenu printout teesukunna PDF ni.....ooooo roju opigga koorsoni sadavali motham.
Most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.
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Stud
Mudiripoyina Bewarse
Username: Stud
Post Number: 2942
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 75.73.129.107
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 24, 2010 - 10:46 pm: |
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Thanx 2 Vjavasi of pakka DB for providing all the info and link...
Politics interest vunna vallaki manchi info vundhi..free ga vunnappudu first post lo ichina link ni kummandi...
Jai Anna Jai Jai Anna
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Stud
Mudiripoyina Bewarse
Username: Stud
Post Number: 2941
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 75.73.129.107
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 24, 2010 - 10:44 pm: |
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Ouster of NTR
6 Politics of Pragmatism
The fact that NTR, the patriarch of the TDP, was ignominously removed from power and party
position his party MLAs and Ministers in a surreptitious revolt only a few after months of his
massive election victory in December 1994, was a major paradox in Andhra Pradesh State politics.
It was again a paradox that Chandrababu, NTR�s younger son-in-law, who played a crucial role in
�guarding� the TDP MLAs from deserting NTR during the �coup� against him in 1984, for which
NTR publicly expressed his gratitude, was the central figure in this revolt against him in August
1995. The removal of NTR and the assumption of the twin offices of Chief Minister and Party
President by Chandrababu Naidu (hereafter Chandrababu) marked the end of an era of charismatic,
populist and autocratic politics and the beginning of a new political phase in Andhra Pradesh,
characterised by pragmatism and economic reform.
Paradoxes exhibit seemingly contradictory qualities, but they have their own rationale. In a way, the
ouster of NTR could be seen (with hindsight of course) as the tragic outcome of NTR�s politics
itself. The evolution of the TDP as a party showed how a democratic upsurge among the people
could be used, in the name of mass democracy, to establish an autocratic regime. Although NTR
lambasted the Congress for perpetuating family rule over the country, he pursued the same line
much more vigorously in Andhra Pradesh. Under the prevailing conditions in which political power
was treated by the top ruling elite as property to be bequeathed at their will to their family members,
the inheritance of power became an issue during the lifetime of NTR himself. On one occasion, he
designated his actor-son, Balakrishna, his political heir. Two of his sons-in-law, who occupied
crucial positions in the party, did not relish this dynastic wish. In addition, the growing authority of
his much-maligned wife, who was so dear to NTR, perturbed his other family members and some
senior leaders of the party. The Ministers and MLAs were also unhappy as NTR reduced them to
non-entities and did not allow them to use patronage and power to get things done for themselves
and their supporters. There was also growing resentment among the elite, given the shifting policy
environment in the country, against his �populist� schemes that they now thought were burdensome,
unproductive and anti-development. They saw in Chandrababu, the Revenue and Finance Minister
in NTR�s Cabinet, a prudent and pragmatic leader with views commensurable to the emergent
paradigm of economic development.
When NTR was previously overthrown in 1984, it was projected as the murder of democracy. This
time in 1995 however, there was much pity but no mass upsurge. NTR toured the State, bemoaning
his fate and imploring the people to fight for his restoration, but to no avail. The whole affair was
passed off as an event of episodic significance, or as just a family matter (Balagopal, 1995).
Ironically, when the scene was being set in Hyderabad for upstaging him, NTR was busy with the
�Government at People�s Doorstep� (Prajala Mungita Palana) programme in a north coastal
district, along with some government officials, Ministers and party workers. He had not even the
slightest intimation of the impending revolt against him until it was all over. The danger for an
autocratic ruler is that all appears to be well as he/she reigns supreme and the surrounding flatterers
make him/her believe that he/she is truly a great man/woman. In the process, the autocrat throws all
democratic norms to the wind, personalises power, systematically destroys democratic institutions,
stifles all dissent and criticism, including any that is helpful to the healthy functioning of the party
and government, because he/she sees them as unnecessary impediments. Gradually he/she becomes
alienated from people, disaffection brews in the party and bursts into the open when it reaches a
critical point. Those who lie low, but waiting for an opportunity, now act with vengeance and great
force, throwing down the �big boss� from his/her pedestal. The entire aura, charm and the hallowed
status of this �superhuman� seem to vanish and he/she suddenly appears to everyone as somewhat
less than an ordinary mortal. When the calamity befalls him/her, he/she finds himself discarded as a
spent material, forlorn and deserted. Thus NTR became a victim of the conditions he himself had
38
engendered in the party and government. His political career should remain a lesson to any
politician in the country.
Jai Anna Jai Jai Anna
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Stud
Mudiripoyina Bewarse
Username: Stud
Post Number: 2940
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 75.73.129.107
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 24, 2010 - 10:44 pm: |
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The women�s movement for prohibition of arrack (cheap liquor) was another important social
movement in the 1990s (Narasimha Reddy and Patnaik, 1993; Ilaiah, 1992). Arrack contractors,
united into syndicates, became a powerful lobby in State politics, funding the political parties and
candidates in elections, including those of the communist parties. A good number of liquor
contractors were politicians themselves, either directly or under fictitious names (benami), or they
were close relatives of the politicians or the real force behind some legislators and Ministers. After
the TDP came into power, the government took over the production and distribution of arrack in
the State, giving it a beautiful name, �varuni vahini� (stream of liquor). In order to augment revenue
from the liquor business, the TDP government auctioned shops throughout the villages.
Government revenue from arrack sale, which was Rs1500 million in 1982, shot up to the staggering
amount of Rs6300 million in 1991. It was estimated at that time that around Rs14,000 million were
transferred annually from arrack consumers, who were mostly labourers and poor people, into the
hands of contractors, of which 45% went to the government. The contractors therefore appropriated
nearly Rs8000 million every year. Imagine a situation where the government made arrangements, to
overcome resistance from people agitating against arrack sales, for selling it in police stations in
Telengana region!
The network of arrack contractors and sub-contractors was very extensive from the State capital to
the village level, to maximise arrack sales with all necessary employment of muscle power to carry
on the business and bribing of the administration. As a result, consumption of arrack increased by
several-fold, household economies of the lower classes were ruined and family problems increased.
The rural women, who were the worst victims of the arrack menace, organised themselves in the
villages, attacked arrack shops and prevented the government from conducting their auctions. The
police mercilessly beat the women and large-scale arrests were made in November 1992. The
hirelings and musclemen of the contractors disturbed the sit-in strikes (dharnas) held by the women
agitators by attacking them with lathis (heavy wooden sticks). The active participation of the Left
parties in the agitation gave it momentum. With an eye on �women votes�, NTR extended support to
the agitation, although liquor consumption actually became a problem during his regime. In the
midst of the agitation, the government sanctioned another 12 distilleries to private agencies. As
there was a huge public outcry, and as pressure from women agitators mounted, the Excise Minister
resigned from the Ministry and the Assembly. The nexus between the politicians, bureaucrats,
contractors and the police was exposed during the agitation. In the by-elections in April 1993,
prohibition became an important issue. The government was finally forced to introduce partial
prohibition in April 1993 in Nellore district, where the agitation had started and was widespread,
and from October 1993 throughout the State. But sufficient damage had already been done to the
Congress electoral prospects. Total prohibition (of arrack as well as Indian Made Foreign Liquor
(IMFL)) became an important issue in the 1994 Assembly election and it was considered a major
factor in swinging the women vote in favour of the TDP in its spectacular victory.
Jai Anna Jai Jai Anna
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Stud
Mudiripoyina Bewarse
Username: Stud
Post Number: 2939
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 75.73.129.107
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 24, 2010 - 10:44 pm: |
|
With the arrival of Kanshi Ram on the political scene of Andhra Pradesh, dalit politics were
expected to take a new shape. Cashing in on the emergence of a strong dalit movement from 1985
to 1993, Kanshi Ram called for an end to the erstwhile pattern of the dominant castes enjoying
power using the dalit votes. He wanted to capture political power through electoral means, ending
generations of dependence and subservience to the Brahmanic castes � in the Andhra Pradesh
context and according to dalit leaders, the Brahmans included the Kammas, the Reddis, the Kapus,
the Velamas, etc., apart from the three dwija castes in the classical Hindu social hierarchy. Several
leaders of the Dalit Mahasabha (a socio-political organisation of the dalits) some independent dalit
leaders, and some former Naxalite activists joined the BSP in Andhra Pradesh. The middle-class
sections that emerged among the scheduled castes lent support.
Although some BC leaders initially showed interest in the BSP, they later turned lukewarm or left
the party. The BSP thus largely remained a party of the dalits, although according to Kanshi Ram,
the concept of bahujans (literally, �the underprivileged multitude�. The concept includes people
who belong to backward castes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities. It is now
mostly used by the BSP and refers to dalits) is a broad one that includes people who belong to
backward castes, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minorities. The BSP accused the uppercaste
leaders of the TDP and the Congress of perpetuating the rule of the dominant castes by
building alliances of caste elites. The CPI, the CPM and some leaders of Left extremist groups were
critical of organising the dalits on the basis of mere caste consciousness. The Congress Party
appointed a dalit leader as Deputy Chief Minister as a symbolic gesture in the hope of attracting and
retaining electoral support among the dalits. Hopes as well as fears were raised during the early
1990s about the possibility of the BSP emerging as a major force in the State politics (Srinivasulu,
1994). As an anti-climax of the drive to carve out an autonomous role for bahujans in Andhra
Pradesh politics came reports of a clandestine deal between the Congress and the BSP for a
35
Congress victory in the 1994 Assembly elections. The BSP was effectively a non-starter in the
elections � it secured only 1.3% of the vote, losing deposits in all except two of the constituencies it
contested.
Around the same time, the representatives of the BCs began to have a larger role in politics,
especially after the TDP came to power. A feeling of resentment among the BCs in the State grew
against the Congress Party during the 1970s. They perceived that the Congress Party was more
interested in wooing the SC voters, that the welfare and developmental programmes introduced by
the government had mainly benefited the SCs and that the problems of the BCs were neglected,
although they too suffered from socio-economic backwardness. Due to such resentment, the BCs, it
is said, voted overwhelmingly for the TDP in the 1983 elections. The TDP also accommodated BC
candidates in good number � there were 61 MLAs from BCs in 1983 and 59 MLAs in 1985. During
the TDP rule, the Congress leaders tried their utmost to attract the BC vote by organising meetings
of various backward caste associations. This task was assigned to the respective Congress leaders.
In order to counter the Congress� moves, the TDP government accepted, in July 1986, the
Muralidhara Rao Commission Report on reservations for backward castes in education and
employment and raised the reservations for the BCs from 25% to 44%. NTR neither cared to gather
a consensus on reservation quota for the BCs nor consulted other parties in this matter. His decision
was hasty, lacked conviction and was a part of the political game of one-upmanship. Those who
opposed the enhancement of the quota formed the Nava Sangharsha Samithi and launched an
agitation opposing the government decision. The pro-reservationists formed another body � Sarva
Sangrama Parishad (SSP) � to defend the rise in reservation quota. The State was engulfed in a
caste conflagration for two months during August/September 1986. While the majority of the
Congress leaders whipped up feelings against the TDP government, the upper-caste party cadres of
the Congress actively supported the anti-reservation agitation. However, some Congress leaders
supported the increase but decried the opportunistic way in which the TDP government made the
decision. Later a three-judge Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down the increase as
unconstitutional. Faced with the wrath of the anti-reservationists, NTR took shelter under the Court
decision and withdrew the Government Order with equal haste. This episode clearly revealed the
politics of reservation policy in the State � it showed how the interest groups based on caste defined
justice in a way that suited them and thus brought pressure to bear on the government to bestow
benefits on them, and how the political class sought to use governmental power either to demand or
enact laws in the name of social justice, but actually to suit their own interest, i.e., to keep power to
themselves.
From the early 1990s, various BCs began to organise State-level meetings to articulate their
economic and political demands, attended by the Congress Chief Minister and his Cabinet
colleagues. To meet the rising aspirations among the BCs, V. Hanumantha Rao, a BC leader, was
appointed APCC President by Rajiv Gandhi. He became an aspirant and strong contender for Chief
Minister�s post after Channa Reddy�s exit. Later, Majji Tulasi Das, a BC, was made APCC
President. Vijayabhaskara Reddy had to expand his Ministry to include one Member from each
major BC community in the State. After the BSP�SP victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly
election, the Congress leaders in Andhra Pradesh began to talk about the need for giving more space
to the BCs in the power structure. When M. Padmanabham, a Kapu MLA, launched an agitation for
inclusion of Kapus in the BC list, the Congress government issued orders in August 1994, just on
the eve of the Assembly elections, including not only the Kapus but also the Muslims in the
backward classes. But the move was opposed by the BC representatives, who felt that inclusion of
the Kapus � a forward community � in the BCs list would adversely affect their interests. All
political parties in Andhra Pradesh made a conscious effort, under mounting pressure, to give more
importance to the BCs and accommodate a greater number of leaders from these castes in party
committees and government positions.
Jai Anna Jai Jai Anna
|
Stud
Mudiripoyina Bewarse
Username: Stud
Post Number: 2938
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 75.73.129.107
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 24, 2010 - 10:43 pm: |
|
The fact that these attacks took place not in a backward area but in the fertile plains and in relatively
more developed villages show that the processes of modernisation and democratisation do not in
34
themselves obviate the caste tensions, and in fact, may even exacerbate them. The awakening
among the dalits and the leadership potential of its movement had been strong from the early
decades of the 20th century. The development of agriculture and the corresponding educational and
employment opportunities and urban exposure benefited the dalits to some extent. The role of the
Christian missionaries in the uplift of these sections, in taking them out from the oppressive Hindu
fold, giving them confidence and self-respect cannot be ignored in this context. Since
Independence, a small middle class began to grow among the dalits, consisting especially of
government officers and other employees, literati, salaried persons, and those in legal and other
professions. The democratic politics made it possible for the leaders from the dalits to exercise
some amount of political power, although more often as junior partners of the dominant elites.
Those among the dalits who had acquired some land, received an education, and been employed in
government service and had urban work experience resented the traditional attitudes of the
members of peasant castes towards them. Since the law lays down total equality of citizens they
demand equal treatment. The attitudes of the so-called upper caste persons have been undergoing
change, but the problem is that the pace at which the members of the peasant castes reconcile to the
changing realities and the demands of a democratic polity do not often match. In rural areas, the
refusal of many dalits to adhere to the traditional norms of deference towards the members of the
upper castes became a source of tension. Thus, in large parts of rural Andhra Pradesh, an
atmosphere of perpetual tension between the peasant communities, be it the Kammas, Kapus,
Reddis, Velamas, Rajus, or Yadavas on the one hand and the dalits on the other began to develop.
Socially forbidden attitudes towards women or illicit relations between members of these
communities often provided emotional and immediate factors for these tensions to flare up. The
attacks in Karamchedu and Chunduru villages represented the violent expression of this widespread
tension between these social groups at large. Dalit assertion of a different type was noticed in some
districts of Telengana, where the Naxalite groups are active.
With the arrival of Kanshi Ram on the political scene of Andhra Pradesh, dalit politics were
expected to take a new shape. Cashing in on the emergence of a strong dalit movement from 1985
to 1993, Kanshi Ram called for an end to the erstwhile pattern of the dominant castes enjoying
power using the dalit votes. He wanted to capture political power through electoral means, ending
generations of dependence and subservience to the Brahmanic castes � in the Andhra Pradesh
context and according to dalit leaders, the Brahmans included the Kammas, the Reddis, the Kapus,
the Velamas, etc., apart from the three dwija castes in the classical Hindu social hierarchy. Several
leaders of the Dalit Mahasabha (a socio-political organisation of the dalits) some independent dalit
leaders, and some former Naxalite activists joined the BSP in Andhra Pradesh. The middle-class
sections that emerged among the scheduled castes lent support.
Although some BC leaders initially showed interest in the BSP, they later turned lukewarm or left
the party. The BSP thus largely remained a party of the dalits, although according to Kanshi Ram,
the concept of bahujans (literally, �the underprivileged multitude�. The concept includes people
who belong to backward castes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities. It is now
mostly used by the BSP and refers to dalits) is a broad one that includes people who belong to
backward castes, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minorities. The BSP accused the uppercaste
leaders of the TDP and the Congress of perpetuating the rule of the dominant castes by
building alliances
Jai Anna Jai Jai Anna
|
Stud
Mudiripoyina Bewarse
Username: Stud
Post Number: 2937
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 75.73.129.107
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 24, 2010 - 10:43 pm: |
|
TDP's 1994 victory
Belying all projections and predictions in the media, the TDP scored a massive victory in the 1994
Assembly elections (Suri, 1995). The TDP achieved a three-quarters majority in the Assembly on
its own, winning 219 seats out of the 251 it contested, and more than four-fifths of the seats won by
the allies were added. The Left parties, the allies of the TDP, won in 34 constituencies. TDP�s
success rate (candidates contested and won) of 87%, as compared to 76% of the Congress in 1972,
was a record in Andhra Pradesh�s electoral history. The TDP and its allies swept the polls in all the
three regions, winning 120 (out of 133) in coastal Andhra, 42 (out of 52) in Rayalaseema and 91
(out of 107) in Telengana. In this election, the Congress had the dubious record of winning the
lowest number of seats (26) and not being in a position to claim the status of an officially
recognised opposition party in the State Assembly. The Congress failed to win a single seat in 11
districts, seven of them being in the Telengana region. The TDP and its allies, CPI and CPM, polled
51.3% of the valid votes (the TDP, on its own, achieved 44.8% of the vote), while the Congress
polled 33.6%, similar to the low vote it polled in the 1983 elections (Table 3). Compared to the
1989 Assembly election, when it polled 45.3% of the vote, the Congress lost 11.7 percentage points
in the 1994 elections. It was not simply the defeat, but the magnitude of the Congress defeat that
was significant.
Some attributed the TDP success to the charismatic appeal of NTR, the trust of the poor in his
resolve to implement welfare schemes and his pro-peasant and pro-women position. NTR called his
victory �a silent revolution� of the hungry masses, suffering women and the unemployed. The
Congress defeat was attributed to the poor image of the party due to factional infighting, the
perception that the Congress government was dominated by Reddis, widespread corruption, the
impact of the liberalisation measures on the poor, the inability of the Congress leaders to counter
the TDP election campaign and the desire for a change in the government. The election results
showed that the Andhra electorate did not follow the sentiment that they should vote for the
Congress to ensure the continuation of a Telugu Congressman at the helm of affairs in the country,
a sentiment which PV and his supporters sought to invoke during the election campaign. Another
implication of the election outcome was the rejection of the theme of electing the same party at the
Centre and in the State, despite the warning from the top Congress leaders that voting for a non-
Congress Party would mean trouble for the people of the State and lead to Centre�State conflicts.
As mentioned earlier, the notable among the social and political movements that have affected the
politics in Andhra Pradesh since the emergence of the TDP were those concerned with the assertion
of the dalits, Naxalite struggles and the anti-arrack campaign by women. They have raised certain
fundamental questions about the rationale of the social order, the nature of the political set-up, and
the policy framework and priorities of the government.
This period witnessed the growth of dalit assertion and the emergence of independent dalit
organisations and political parties in the State. After the TDP came to power, tensions grew
between the upper-caste peasant communities and the dalits in the villages. The attack by the
Kammas on the Madigas in Karamchedu village in Prakasam district in July 1985, killing six
persons and injuring many, caused uproar in the State (Narasimha Reddy, 1985). The dalits were
organised by leaders from within the community in a protracted struggle for justice against the TDP
government. After the Congress came into power in 1989, the Reddy landlords and their kinsmen
(including the small landowners) in the fertile and agriculturally developed Chunduru village of
Guntur district hacked to death eight dalits in August 1991 (Raghavulu, 1992). While these attacks
on the dalits were generally deplored by all, the dalit leaders launched criticism that the dalits were
subjected to atrocities under both the TDP rule, which they described as the Kamma raj, and the
Congress rule, termed as Reddy raj.
Jai Anna Jai Jai Anna
|
Blazewada
Bewarse Legend
Username: Blazewada
Post Number: 10591
Registered: 08-2008
Posted From: 202.124.30.8
Rating: N/A
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idedo manchi info laaga undi, intikelli opigga oka round dates tini, juice tagi energy techukoni saduvuthaa... 
Jai Anushka, Jai Jai Ileana , Jai Jai Jai Siya
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The High Court passed severe strictures against the Chief Minister for granting capitation-fee
colleges of medicine and engineering. The Congress image had suffered so much that it was
thoroughly defeated by the TDP in the earlier phase of the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, held before
the killing of Rajiv Gandhi. It was Rajiv�s death that saved the Congress in the second phase of Lok
Sabha elections.
Even after PV Narasimha Rao, (the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh), became the Prime
Minister of India, the stock of the Congress in the State did not improve much in the public eye. In
the Congress Legislature Party meeting held to �elect� a replacement Chief Minister for Janardan
Reddy, the �sealed cover� from the Prime Minister and Party President was sent to appoint the
veteran faction leader from Rayalaseema and a former Chief Minister of the State, Kotla
Vijayabhaskar Reddy, to the post. Soon the dissident factions intensified their activity against the
Chief Minister, but at the same time proclaimed unflinching loyalty to the High Command. The
Chief Minister was criticised for his feudal attitude and for behaving like a factional leader. The
anti-arrack movement by women, dalit assertion and the growth of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
in the State, and the Naxalite activities also led to the dampening of morale among the
Congressmen and erosion in the Congress electoral base. These social and political movements are
discussed later in this section.
In the elections to the Assembly in December 1994, the Congress High Command talked of a
�rainbow� coalition of factions, meaning that different factional interests would be accommodated
in selecting the candidates. When there was a demand for a greater number of candidates from the
BCs and reduced representation for the Reddis, PV Narasimha Rao stressed the need for �social
balancing� in a way that did not upset the Congress agenda. The Congress President took upon
himself the responsibility of carrying the election campaign. He started by invoking the Telugu
sentiment, saying that he came as a son of the Telugu soil (telugu bidda) to seek votes as alms
(bhiksha). He urged the people to save him from the ignominy of Congress defeat in his home State.
He also harped upon the old theme of the need to have the same party in power both at the Centre
and in the States for harmonious functioning and to avoid any mismatch between the policies of the
Centre and the State governments.
The issue of �development� versus �welfare� came to the fore in the elections. PV focused on his
economic policies of liberalisation, the rise in the nation�s creditworthiness under his leadership,
and the Centre�s record of economic achievements. He counterpoised development and welfare
implying that development would suffer if welfare (populist) schemes, as promised by NTR, were
implemented. Countering the Congress argument, NTR focused on the theme that it was the
responsibility of the government to provide the basic needs to the people, namely food, clothing and
shelter. He questioned the theory of development in opposition to the welfare of the poor. He said
that development for him was the welfare of the poor, while development for Congress meant
enrichment of party leaders. NTR lambasted the Congress for legalising corruption, for amassing
wealth by Congress politicians at the expense of society and for neglecting the needs of the poor. In
his well-attended meetings, he promised to reintroduce the subsidised rice scheme, to impose total
prohibition on liquor and to supply electricity to farmers at subsidised rates. Although NTR himself
was one of the richest persons in the State, he succeeded in projecting himself as the champion of
the disadvantaged and the weaker sections. The presence of the two communist parties on his side
enhanced the image of NTR as progressive and pro-poor. The TDP and its Left allies projected the
new economic policy of the Congress government and the liberalisation process as �pro-rich�. The
Congress Party proved to be no match for NTR�s populism. If Mrs Gandhi had upstaged her rivals
in the late 1960s with the slogan �garibi hatao� (banish poverty) and her radical postures, NTR
could upstage the Congress with the slogan �basic needs to the poor�. If the Congress had always
exploited the rich�poor divide and talked of the poor without hurting the rich, NTR proved to have
scored an advantage over the Congress in its own game.
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1989-95 congress rule
Some of the governmental policies and decisions made during Janardan Reddy�s tenure became
highly controversial. Feeling was widespread that everything under the Congress regime had a price
tag and that nothing was impossible if one was ready to pay the bribe. Corruption charges were
levelled at the Chief Minister, especially in the affairs of leasing out the mines and awarding the
contracts for World Bank-funded cyclone reconstruction works involving hundreds of crores of
rupees. It was also alleged that crores of rupees had changed hands in allowing liquor barons and
influential persons to start several private medical and engineering colleges with hefty capitation
fees.18 All this provided sufficient fuel to the opposition fire. The TDP once again became active.
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Riots in hyderabad
With the Congress back in power in 1989, factionalism in the party once again came to the fore as
early as 1990. The newly formed Channa Reddy government came under fire from both the
opposition TDP and the rival factions of the Congress. The government was accused of corrupt
practices and the dilution of welfare schemes, especially the subsidised rice scheme. Channa Reddy
was held responsible for the deterioration in law and order due to the surge in Naxalite violence.
During his tenure, the State was also rocked by anti-Mandal agitation. The factional struggle in the
party went so far that the Chief Minister accused the dissident faction leader, N. Janardan Reddy, of
engineering Hindu�Muslim communal riots in Hyderabad in order to discredit the government
(Hanumantha Rao, 1993). Interestingly, the communal violence came to an abrupt end with the exit
of Channa Reddy, and Janardan Reddy taking the oath as Chief Minister.
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1989 - TDP lost to congress
The decline of electoral support for the TDP and a corresponding increase in Congress strength
became clear even before the 1989 Assembly elections. The elections to the Zilla Praja Parishads
(ZPP) and Mandala Praja Parishads (MPP), created by the TDP government, were held in March
1987. Although the results signalled a victory for the TDP (they secured 18 out of the 21 ZPPs and
632 out of 1058 MPPs), an analysis of the voting pattern indicated electoral gains for the Congress.
The Congress won 42.4% of the vote and 330 MPPs as against the 200 expected in proportion to its
strength in the Assembly. The poll also boosted the local-level party organisation, as the APCC
President gave authority to the District Congress Committees to select candidates, making a break
from the tradition of nomination from above. On the contrary, the TDP�s selection of candidates at
Gandipet (headquarters of the party) through computer processing caused discontent among the
local leaders.
Close on the heels of the Panchayat elections came elections to as many as 95 municipalities and
two Municipal Corporations. For the first time, the method of direct election for the positions of
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Municipal Chair and Corporation Mayor on party basis was introduced. The results of the civic
elections confirmed the growing disenchantment among the urban population with the ruling party.
The Congress secured 42.1% of the votes as compared to the TDP�s 40.2%, as well as 49 municipal
Chairs and 1292 wards, as against 40 and 948 respectively for the TDP. The Congress won all the
municipalities in the districts of Guntur, Prakasam, Srikakulam and Karimnagar. They also wrested
the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation from the CPI and the CPM, which had jointly controlled it
for the previous five years. Adding together the votes polled by the Congress in the Panchayat and
Municipal elections, the Congress managed to narrow down the overall difference between itself
and the TDP to a mere 16 lakh votes. It established leads in about 140 out of the 294 Assembly
segments, which meant an increase of 90 over its tally of 50 in 1985. The outcome of the elections
was so reassuring to the Congress that the APCC President declared that his party was set to
triumph in the next elections.
Simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh Assembly were held in November
1989. The Congress recorded impressive victories at both levels: it won 39 seats in the Lok Sabha
with 49.1% of the vote, while the TDP managed to win only two seats with 41.6% of the vote
(including votes polled by the allied parties). Curiously enough, the Andhra Pradesh electorate, as
in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, returned a spectacular victory for the Congress at a time when the
electoral verdict in the country at large went against it. Over time, especially since 1977, the Andhra
Pradesh electorate has earned the dubious distinction of voting against the national political current.
In the Assembly elections too, the Congress turned the tables on the TDP. It won 182 seats with
47.2% of the popular vote as against 94 seats won by the TDP and its allies � the CPI, the CPM, the
BJP and the Janata Dal � with 43.9% of the popular vote. On its own, the TDP secured 73 seats
with 36.6% of the vote (Table 3). While the Congress improved its electoral support by 9.7%, the
TDP lost ground by 9.6%. However, the margins of victory either for the Congress or the TDP were
miniaml; the overall difference in popular vote between the Congress and the TDP and its allies was
only 3.2%. But the electoral victory for the Congress did not mean a return to the one-party
dominant system that existed prior to the 1980s in Andhra Pradesh, as some thought at the time.
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Criticism on NTR style of functioning
However, the decline of the TDP electoral base cannot be attributed to the efforts of the Congress
alone. The style of NTR�s functioning, both in the party and the government, alienated individuals
and social groups from the TDP. He regarded himself as the sole leader with no superior, equal or
second to him in the party. He wanted people to believe that he was on a God-sent mission to
govern the State; probably he imagined himself to be so, as he always thought himself to be
infallible. Often his actions were arbitrary and rash � some of the policies and laws enacted by his
government had to be withdrawn immediately after they were made or struck down by the courts.
He attacked the Congress for depriving people of self-respect, undermining the democratic
institutions, encouraging the principle of family rule in the country, etc. But his own actions were
no better: he encouraged people bowing down before him and touching his feet, and he bestowed
favours on them; he never cared to build a democratic-party structure, or to make it function on any
democratic principle; he dismissed all his Ministers in February 1989 just before the elections and
constituted a new Ministry of all-new faces; and he never allowed elections to the �Politburo�, the
top decision-making body in the party. Once, in a public meeting at Madanapalli, he announced his
actor-son Balakrishna as his successor, but later denied this in the face of severe criticism. All these
issues became favourite themes of those who opposed the TDP in the 1989 Assembly elections.
Even those who openly supported NTR in the initial years gradually became disenchanted with his
style, both in the party and in government. Several party leaders either became passive or they
revolted against NTR and left the TDP, as they saw in him a highly �authoritarian personality� and
raised the issue of loss of self-respect for the leaders and workers in the party. Most of those who
left the party joined the Congress, saying that it was more democratic and responsive to the wishes
of the people.
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Congress Kapu MLA from Vijayawada, V. M. Ranga Rao, in organising the conference of the
Kapus, known as Kapunadu (styled after Mahanadu, the TDP annual conference). The killing of V.
M. Ranga Rao, who by that time had become a popular Kapu leader and also a prominent Congress
leader, brought caste politics to a climax. The scale of caste violence and arson, targeting the
property and assets of the Kammas, which rocked the four coastal districts � Guntur, Krishna, West
and East Godavaris � following the murder was unprecedented in the political history of the State.
The Congress Party made immense political capital out of this murder and received overwhelming
support from the Kapus in the coastal districts in the 1989 elections.
In addition, the Congress raised the issue of discrimination of Telengana and Rayalaseema regions
by the TDP government and NTR, who belonged to the coastal region. The Congress leaders, who
had earlier resorted to the resurrection of sub-regional identities in order to secure their individual
and factional hold on the party and government, this time used this card against the TDP
government.
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Role of congress in fomenting caste conflict in the state:
As the Congress was in power at the Centre, its leaders often threatened the TDP government
between 1987 and 1988 with dire consequences, including its dismissal. Such belligerence and
aggressiveness on behalf of the State Congress leadership was, to a large extent, inspired by the
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Central leaders. The position of Governor, controlled by the Central government, also proved useful
for them to create trouble for the TDP and during this period, the Congress influenced the decisions
of the Governor on several occasions. The TDP leaders felt that the actions of the Governor were
aimed at embarrassing the ruling party, to strengthen the Congress prospects, to obstruct the
government from functioning and so discredit the ruling party. In an unusual and unprecedented
way, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet passed a Resolution censuring the constitutional head of the State
government. NTR complained to the President of India that the Governor was violating all the
norms by carrying on �a relentless campaign of calumny� against his government.
The Congress also effectively made use of the judiciary to invalidate the actions of the TDP
government and to have strictures passed against key functionaries, including the Chief Minister. A
judgment of a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in January 1988, on petitions filed
by a leading Brahman Congress leader in the State, Dronamraju Satyanarayana, put the Chief
Minister and the ruling party in an awkward situation. It found prima facie evidence of the abuse of
official position by the Chief Minister on five counts and opined that the action of the State
government on two other charges was arbitrary and illegal. Although the way the judgment itself
was given became a matter of controversy, the Congress leaders were quick to demand the
resignation of the Chief Minister. The TDP criticised the Congress for resorting to cantankerous
legal actions to negate the verdict of the people of the State.
One important factor in building up an anti-TDP electoral alliance was caste. The issue was
successfully played by the Congress in its efforts to stage a comeback. It assigned the task of
rallying different caste people to different caste men in the party and it consolidated its position
among the dalits, who had been staunch supporters of the Congress for the last two decades since
they were weaned away from communist influence in the late 1960s. It highlighted, in the
Legislature and outside, the atrocities committed against the dalits, especially in the Kammadominant
villages. The Brahmans � the traditional supporters of the Congress � once again rallied
behind the party by influencing public opinion through the means they had at their command, such
as the media, bureaucracy and educational institutions. NTR�s policies, such as the abolition of
village officers17, abolition of the privileges of priests to enjoy the monetary offerings to gods at
temples, and providing the right for any person, regardless of community, to become a priest, were
seen as trying to destroy the traditional position of the Brahmans in society. Instead of being
understood as democratic measures, these actions were interpreted as measures to hurt the Brahman
interests. The trading community, consisting mainly of the Komatis, were also disaffected with the
TDP due to its alleged �anti-trader policies�. Since most of the Reddi elites thought of the Congress
Party as their own, the Congress received overwhelming support from the Reddi community.
Giving credence to the caste logic, N. Srinivasulu Reddy, one of the top leaders of the TDP and
considered second in command in the TDP Ministry, resigned from the TDP and joined the
Congress, along with several others, on the eve of the 1989 Assembly elections.
The Congress was also successful in separating the Kapu community from the TDP. The Union
Minister, Shiva Sankar, carried out an intensive campaign to rally the Kapus, Balijas, Ontaris,
Munnur Kapus and Telagas (kindred caste groups in Andhra Pradesh) against the TDP. In this
campaign, background discord developed between the prominent Kapu leaders of the TDP on the
one hand and the Chief Minister and his sons-in-law on the other. Chegondi Harirama Jogaiah and
Mudragada Padmanabham, important Kapu leaders from Godavari districts, left the TDP to join the
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Mid-term elections to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, caused by the dissolution of the Assembly in
November 1984, were held in March 1985. The alliance between the major non-Congress
opposition parties and the TDP continued. NTR asked the people to �get rid of the Congress culture
and strengthen your self-respect vis-�-vis the arrogant Centre� (Hindustan Times, 2 March 2 1985).
The election manifesto issued by the APCC said that the Assembly elections provided the Telugu
people a �unique opportunity to join the mainstream of national life� (News Time, 22 February
1985). Rajiv Gandhi maintained that regional parties posed a threat to the unity of the country and
advocated the need for the same party to rule both at the Centre and in the States. But the Congress
suffered from group rivalries. In addition, the demoralisation caused by successive electoral defeats
and the collective fear of NTR was so great in the Congress, that 22 of the candidates allotted
Congress tickets refused to file their nominations. The TDP won 202 seats, three more seats than it
won in the 1983 elections. The Congress failed to retain the strength which it had in the dissolved
Assembly (59), and won only 49 seats. It did however improve its percentage of the vote from
33.6% in the Assembly elections in 1983 to 37.4% in 1985 (Table 3). Its performance was
particularly good in Krishna and Guntur districts, which had stood solidly with the TDP in 1983 and
where Kamma concentration was highest in the State.
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The major casualty in this election was the Democratic Telugu Desam Party (DTDP), formed by
Bhaskara Rao, the rebel TDP leader. All but two of its 220 candidates lost their deposits. With this,
attempts to recreate the Tamil Nadu model of having two rival regional parties as alternative
contenders for power at the State level, were thwarted in Andhra Pradesh. The Congress could have
been seriously threatened had the DTDP been successful in consolidating itself as the second
regional party on the lines of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK) of Tamil
Nadu. Commenting on his victory in the elections, NTR said that the people�s verdict was a
mandate to remould the Centre�State relations, for strong States in a true federal structure, for a
greater share in the revenue for the States and that it was a major rebuff for corrupt leaders and
defectors. The communists also felt that the Andhra people gave a fitting reply to the Congress
argument of the same party rule being required at both the Central and the State level by defeating
the Congress Party.
Between 1985 and 1989, the Congress recovered lost ground by attacking the style of functioning of
the TDP leader, fully exploiting the arbitrary decisions of NTR�s government and taking a hostile
opposition towards the TDP (Bhaktavatsalam, 1991). Although the party was routed in the
Assembly elections in 1983 and 1985, it still enjoyed a considerable electoral base in the State. The
encouragement given by the Central leadership of the party, which was in power at the Centre, the
patronage available for it to bestow upon the State leaders and the opportunity to use the institutions
of Governor and the judiciary in creating situations to embarrass the ruling party at the State level,
helped the Andhra Pradesh Congress Party to regain its strength. TDP�Congress relations showed
that in the evolution of a democratic polity in a developing society with too many social cleavages
and mutually conflicting economic interests, political parties, especially the main opposition, seem
to give less importance to parliamentary conventions and fair means. What was important for the
Congress was to regain power, using any means at the disposal of the party. Apparently, it
functioned on the assumption that only hostile opposition pays in a crisis-ridden society. It launched
an immediate propaganda offensive against the TDP government and used every opportunity to put
the ruling party in a difficult situation.
The very first major policy decision of the TDP government � reducing the retirement age of
government employees from 58 to 55 years, without giving them any time to reconcile with the
decision or chance to appeal against it � provoked a prolonged confrontation between the nongazetted
officers, who numbered more than 400,000 and represented a strategic section in society
and government. For the first time, government employees were subjected to scathing criticism by a
leader no less than the Chief Minister. He criticised them for becoming anti-people and corrupt,
branding them �bandicoots in a granary�. The Congress, which had a majority in the Legislative
Council, was able to stall some of the decisions of the TDP government and the Ordinance intended
to reduce the retirement age was blocked. As a consequence, the TDP leadership decided to have
the Legislative Council abolished.
The role of the Union Ministers in the State politics of Andhra Pradesh acquired significance in
raising issues to embarrass the TDP, putting spokes in the functioning of the State government
wheel, and bolstering the morale of the State Congress leaders. The relations between the State
government and the Union Ministers, acting as the spokesmen of the Congress Party, was
characterised by diatribes of the latter against the former, as they exhorted the Congressmen to
launch a �liberation struggle� against the TDP rule and to take the issues to the streets. There was a
war of statements between the Union Minister from Andhra Pradesh, P. Shiva Sankar and the TDP
leaders over the subsidy in the Rs2 per kilo of rice scheme.
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NTR used vituperative language in his speeches with theatrical gestures. He stressed that the
prestige of Andhra Pradesh was tarnished because the Chief Ministers were installed by Delhi
instead of being elected in Hyderabad. He generated a euphoria over the slogans of �restoration of
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self-respect of the Telugus�, �humiliation of the Telugus by a system of imposing the Chief
Ministers from Delhi�, and �fight against the inefficient and corrupt administration of the Congress�.
These were combined with populist schemes, such as providing rice at Rs2 per kilo and midday
meals for school children, which he borrowed from neighbouring Tamil Nadu experience. Overall,
NTR�s speeches were exhortative and his policies populist. Initially, the Congress underestimated
the significance of the TDP and the crowds drawn towards NTR. Mrs Gandhi regarded NTR as no
more than a freak phenomenon incapable of posing any sustained political challenge. She scorned
NTR as a �political joke� being played in Andhra Pradesh by someone who did not know anything
about politics but had entered the electoral fray. Some Congress leaders tried to isolate NTR as a
leader of the Kamma community alone and called Telugu Desam, �Kamma desam� (land of the
Kammas).
The 1983 elections became a battle between Amma (mother), i.e., Mrs Gandhi and Anna (elder
brother), i.e., NTR. The TDP recorded a landslide victory ending the one-party dominance of the
Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh of nearly three decades (Table 3). It secured 46.8% of the
popular vote and two-thirds of seats in the Assembly. The Congress Party recorded the lowest
percentage of the vote (33.6%) ever in Andhra Pradesh electoral history. It polled the least
percentage of votes in the coastal Andhra region (30.8%). The party won only 20% of seats (60 out
of 293) in the Assembly. The percentage of seats was extremely low for the coastal Andhra (8%)
and Rayalaseema (8%) regions. The Left parties, who had now entered into an alliance with each
other, were utterly defeated: CPI took only 2.8% of the vote with four seats and CPM 2.1% of the
vote with five seats. The elections showed that if a political party, whether regional or national,
convinces the electorate of its ability to form a government by projecting itself as a viable
alternative to the ruling party, it stands a fair chance of gaining political power. It also showed that a
negative swing of 4�5% of the vote polled by a party yields a highly adverse result in terms of its
position in the Assembly. The Congress Party assumed, for the first time in Andhra Pradesh, the
role of an opposition party in the Assembly and outside.
The Central and State Congress leadership, which had grown accustomed to dominating State
politics for a long time, found it difficult to reconcile to the changed realities. It failed to establish a
working relationship with the TDP and took a hostile attitude towards the ruling party. On his part,
NTR too was hostile towards the Congress for his own compulsions and repeatedly talked of the
State�s autonomy vis-�-vis the Congress-dominated Centre. The TDP and the Congress naturally
held divergent views on the place and role of regional parties in India. NTR decried the continuous
propaganda of the Congress Party in the State, claiming that the regional parties represent
fissiparous tendencies and render harm to the State�s interests. He maintained that the Congress rule
had deprived the State both the authority and the financial capacity to promote the development of
its economy and the welfare of its people. He described the TDP as a regional party with a national
perspective and asserted that a regional party alone was capable of articulating the aspirations of the
people.
After one-and-a-half years of TDP rule, the Congress pulled down NTR�s government in August
1984. The Congress gave support to the plans of a ginger group within the TDP led by Nadendla
Bhaskara Rao to oust the Chief Minister from office while he was away in the United States of
America undergoing heart surgery. As the Congress Party was in power at the Centre, it used the
office of the Governor for the purpose. The meeting of the 17 national opposition parties, including
the CPI, CPM, Bharatiya Jana Party (BJP) and the Janata, came down heavily on the Congress for
indulging in the game of toppling the non-Congress governments and felt that the coup d�état staged
in Hyderabad was engineered in Delhi by the Prime Minister and the coterie around her. They
launched a �Save democracy movement�, which led to a massive anti-Congress and anti-Centre
upsurge in the State against the dismissal of the TDP government. NTR called it a dharma yuddham
27
(a war for justice) � a war against the authoritarian and autocratic rule of the Centre, for restoration
of democracy and safeguarding the Constitution.
Owing to the powerful mass agitation and the force of the united opposition, the �defectors group�,
despite the support of the Congress Party, could not muster enough numbers in the Assembly to
continue in power. Since the 1984 Lok Sabha elections were approaching, the Congress leadership
wanted to salvage the party�s image to any extent possible. It abandoned its efforts to prop up the
�defectors� government, called back the Governor, making him a scapegoat, and finally reinstated
NTR. This was the only instance in the political history of India when a dismissed Chief Minister
was reinstated. The whole episode proved that if people stand firmly for safeguarding democratic
norms, the manipulation of the political leadership in weakening the democratic institutions and
structures to fulfil personal, factional and partisan ambitions can be curbed, resisted and even
defeated.
Although the opposition parties were not able to forge a united front against the Congress at the
national level in the December 1984 Lok Sabha elections, the TDP in Andhra arrived at a bilateral
seat adjustment with the non-Congress national opposition parties. Thereafter, the TDP and its allies
came to be known as �friendly parties�. It was remarkable that they managed to stem the countrywide
sympathy wave in favour of the Congress after the assassination of Mrs Gandhi and deliver a
miserable defeat to the Congress in the elections. In his election speeches, the Congress Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi focused on the theme that the regional parties were harmful to national unity.
The TDP countered the Congress� criticism by saying that it stood for the strengthening of the
federal political structure in India, in the spirit of the Constitution. NTR alleged that the Congress,
despite its continuous rule in the Centre and in several States, was not able to forge unity in the
country, as it was responsible for the trouble in Punjab, Assam, Kashmir, etc. He also charged that
the Congress that fought for independence under Mahatma Gandhi�s leadership died long ago and
what remained of the Congress was full of self-seeking, immoral and corrupt politicians.
People�s memory of the abortive coup against NTR�s government and the political drama that
followed was so fresh, and the unity witnessed during the agitation for the reinstallation of NTR�s
government was so strong, that out of 41 seats for which polls were held, the TDP won 30 (44.1%
of the vote) and the �friendly� opposition parties � CPI, CPM, BJP and the Janata � won one seat
each. The strength of the Congress was reduced from its earlier number of 41 to a mere six, but still
it achieved a substantial vote of 41.8%.
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Mudiripoyina Bewarse
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5 Emergence of the Telugu Desam Party: Politics of Populism and
Confrontation
The emergence of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) brought radical changes to the structure of
politics in Andhra Pradesh. Increasing dissatisfaction among the people towards the Congress style
of functioning, its all-round decay and the inability of the national opposition parties, both liberal
and communist, to present a viable political and electoral alternative to the Congress provided a
fertile ground for the birth and growth of a regional party in the State. The launching of a new
political party on 29 March 1982 by 60-year old Madras-based multi-millionaire cine star, NT
Rama Rao (who was popularly called NTR), heralded a new era in Andhra Pradesh State politics.
This regional party was not born out of any sustained movement or struggle, like that of Akali Dal
in Punjab or National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, or any sustained social movement like
the DMK in Tamil Nadu. Neither is it entirely true to say that the TDP became successful because
of NTR�s cine popularity among the Andhra Pradesh electorate. The explanation lies somewhere
else. In Andhra Pradesh politics the non-Congress/anti-Congress opposition vote was always
substantial, with different parties and independents in the electoral fray securing a considerable
percentage of votes in the Assembly elections held prior to 1983. Most of the leaders of the former
Swatantra Party, Lok Dal, and Socialist parties and later the Janata Party joined the Telugu Desam.
The vote bases of these parties were welded together under the name of the Telugu Desam (the
Telugu nation). Thus the TDP could be seen as a unified reincarnation of the hitherto divided anti-
Congress and non-Congress groups in Andhra Pradesh politics. NTR�s cine popularity was useful to
him in the sense that he was not new to the Andhra Pradesh electorate and he used this as an
effective means to convey a political message to them. It fell on receptive ears as the electorate too
was looking for an alternative � a leader who could bail out the State from the reckless factionalism,
rampant corruption and the political morass into which it had been dragged by the Congress rule
between 1978 and 1982.
The TDP mounted a blistering attack on the Congress, its �eunuch� leadership at the State level and
the �puppet shows� constantly staged on the Andhra political theatre. The party, in its manifesto,
promised to provide a clean administration and the elimination of corruption; it would strive to
remove the meaningless and unrealistic restrictions on industrialists and thus attract capital from
outside the State and encourage the enterprising industrialists within the State. The TDP called the
Congress pro-merchant and anti-peasant for its failure to give remunerative prices for agricultural
products and to supply electricity for the peasants at subsidised rates. It completely rejected any
proposal of imposing tax on agricultural income. Regarding the Centre�State relations, the TDP
said that Indira Gandhi, in her endeavour to perpetuate her family rule over the country, had
gradually transformed the States of India into glorified �municipalities�. It proclaimed its belief in
complete federalism and opposed the argument that the delegation of more powers to the States
would weaken the Centre. It demanded that the Centre should confine itself to the matters of
defence, foreign affairs, currency and communications. NTR later went so far as to say that the
Centre was a �conceptual myth�. Thus the TDP�s proclaimed policies were oriented to liberal
industrial growth and pro-peasant agricultural development and it was said to have made a good
impact on the regional industrialist class and the rich peasantry, who supported the Congress during
the 1970s. The TDP also partially took the philosophy of the former Swatantra Party and as a
consequence, effectively weaned away a large section of peasant voters from the Congress and the
Janata Party.
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http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/1997.pdf
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