datelineandhra ebook

1

Dateline Andhra

&

An Overview of

Political Movements in

Andhra

R J Rajendra Prasad

Published by R S Prasad

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ISBN : 978-81 8465-211-6

Cost: Rs.200/-

www.datelineandhra.com

Published by R S Prasad.

© R S Prasad. All rights reserved.

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In Lieu of Forward ................................................. 4

My days in Madras Journalism .............................. 9

My Coastal Andhra Assignment .......................... 41

P V Narasimha Rao ............................................. 65

Jalagam Vengala Rao .......................................... 87

Dr Chenna Reddy’s two terms as Chief Minister.. 105

News behind News .............................................. 124

Preface ................................................................ 135

An Overview of thePolitical Movements in Andhra............................ 139

Congress politics .................................................178

The Beginning of Telugu Desam .........................197

NTR’s First Political Crisis .................................. 232

NTR, Congress & National Front ....................... 272

NTR, as Leader of Opposition............................ 315

Lakshmi Parvathi & NTR’s SecondPolitical Crisis ..................................................... 346

Chandra Babu – Reform & Compromise .............389

Chandrababu’s National Politics .........................427

Acknowledgements ............................................. 437

Photographs .............................................................

Contents

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A journalist, by definition and temperament, is

supposed to be a non-stop learner and incessant

observer of men and matters as part of his

professional work. There are now courses for those

desiring to enter the field of journalism organized by

Universities and Academia. This is a welcome change

from the past when a beginner was supposed to hone

his skills by trial and error with no written guidelines

for improvement. A number of text books have been

written on how to report, edit and produce a

newspaper. Yet the spring source of inspiration for

young practitioner is the work and experience of the

veterans in the field. Context takes precedence over

the text for a journalist. And here the memoirs of

seniors come as handy guides.

Autobiographies of eminent journalists have been

perennial source of inspiration and instruction to the

young practitioners. Memoirs of veteran American

Journalists Walter Lipmann and James Reston have

been rated as rich source of information so that the

young practitioners can march forward securely and

In lieu of Foreword

5

R J Rajendra Prasad : Dateline Andhra

safely on the path of perfection. M Chalapathi

Rau’s ‘Fragments of a Revolution’ and extremely

interesting Pen-portraits under Pseudonym Magnus,

Kotamraju Rama Rau’s magnum opus ‘Pen as my

Sword’ and K Eswar Dutt’s equally scintillating book

‘Street of Ink’ were read with great zeal and avid

interest by hundreds of scribes of our generation and

its beneficial influence in discharging professional

responsibilities can hardly be exaggerated. To this

rich source of memoir literature we have now to add

Rajendra Prasad’s beautifully penned account of his

own career spanning over nearly four decades.

R J Rajendra Prasad had a brilliant academic

background when he entered the profession. He made

a decisive choice to become a journalist forsaking the

coveted post of Lecturer. In fact, he was advised by a

well wisher not to enter the stormy and unsettled sea

of journalism giving up the job of Lecturer in a

Madras College. The decision was a blessing to him

and the profession. His penchant for hard work, keen

observation and lucid presentation marked him out

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as one of the best journalists of his time. I have

known him from the days when he was posted as

Correspondent for the entire Coastal Andhra based

at Vijayawada. He achieved the rare distinction of

making The Hindu more popular than the local

vernacular media by his innumerable human interest

stories. Mostly off the beat and far from the usual,

these stories attracted the attention of a large

number of readers who were fed up with the routine

stuff.

When he shifted to State Capital in seventies, Andhra

Pradesh was going through tumultuous developments

in the political arena. He grasped the essence of each

development and its impact on the political front. He

presided over The Hindu Hyderabad Bureau since the

days of P V Narasimha Rao’s Chief Ministership.

And, in between, he reported epoch making political

developments leading to the emergence N T Rama

Rao’s Telugu Desam and its thumping success in the

subsequent elections. His successor and son-in-law,

Nara Chandrababu Naidu was at the helm of affairs

7


when Prasad retired. One should read his reportage

of the succession struggle in the Telugu Desam with

anguish and sympathy – former in favour of the

ousted NTR and latter for the new incumbent.

Rajendra Prasad admittedly has strong opinions like

any other politically minded citizen but he never

allowed his political sympathies to cloud professional

judgments, a point worthy of emulation by any

journalist in these days of partisan and faction

ridden politics and sensation mongering media.

Anybody who is interested in the political history of

Andhra Pradesh during the last four decades would

be well advised to go through this book. The effort is

no doubt painstaking due to its bulkiness;

never-the-less, extremely rewarding. A journalist,

even if he pretends to be master of one discipline,

should necessarily be Jack of all. Rajendra Prasad

was interested not only in the politics and routine

beats but in social and cultural life of the people of

the state. That he used to frequently attend literary

meetings held regularly every month in Vijayawada

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(He has mentioned the authors with whom he had

literary encounters.) is a convincing proof. He had

multi-faceted interests and his curiosity happily was

not confined to mere news reporting. The book is

easily readable and extremely enjoyable. His style is,

like the man himself, serene and simple. He had

mentioned that in the contest for Andhra Congress

Presidentship in the early fifties, Neelam Sanjiva

Reddy defeated Prakasam instead of N G Ranga.

And elsewhere, referring to 1972 Assembly elections,

he mentioned that CPI (M) got one seat where as CPI

drew blank, when actually the latter had won six

seats. Such factual inaccuracies do not affect the

worth of the book. After reading the book, Rajendra

Prasad’s image is reflected as professionally

competent, committed and conscious journalist.

Finally, I thank the family members of Rajendra

Prasad for giving me this opportunity to pay tributes

to a long standing and lovable friend in and outside

the profession.

14-06-2010 C Raghavachari

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I became a reporter by accident. While working as a

Lecturer at the Sir Thyagaraya College in Madras in

1961, I chanced to see an advertisement in the Indian

Express for reporters, and I applied. Those days, the

Indian Express used to be printed at Chittoor, after a

strike and lock-out in its Madras office, and the

Express wanted new reporters to man its Madras

bureau. I was called for a written test at the Express

Estates in Mount Road, and I was one of the three

selected to work as a reporter.

I was happy at the prospect because of better salary.

The College used to pay me Rs 150 per month as

basic pay and Rs 40 as dearness allowance.

Compared to this, the Indian Express offered Rs 150

as salary, Rs 40 as dearness allowance and Rs 75 as

conveyance allowance. Also, I looked for a change in

the profession, because I did not fancy retiring from

service as a Lecturer.

I reported at the Indian Express office three days

later, and was greeted by V.S.Ganapathi Sarma, the

Chief of Bureau. He brusquely asked me to occupy

My Days In Madras Journalism

10

one of the empty chairs. Next to me sat the two

other reporters who also joined that day. Ganapathi

Sarma was a Pickwick-like character, a rotund figure

with a bulldog face, who wore a tight coat, a

crumpled tie, and always looked above his glasses,

when he had to see who were all present in the room.

I expected a lecture on journalism, or at least some

tips about what exactly a reporter is supposed to do,

or how to write reports, but there was nothing of that

sort. After sitting there in that dreary room for an

hour, Ganapathi Sarma asked the three of us new

reporters to come to his table, where he asked me to

go to the “Chepauk beat”. What was Chepauk and

what was the beat? no one felt obliged to explain. So

saying, he got up, picked up his bag, and walked out

of the room, as if he was glad to get out as early as

he could.

The two other new reporters, Ganapathi and

Gurudas, got the beats of “Police” and “Secretariat”.

There was a thoughtful looking Deputy Chief of

Bureau, R.Ramachandra Iyer, who was adjusting

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press notes in his handbag, and we three went to him,

hoping to get some directions. “Your beat is

Chepauk?”, he asked me, “What you have to do is to

go to the Chepauk Guest House and wait there.

Another three or four reporters will gather there. A

man called N.Ranga Rao, a slightly well built person

wearing a coat, but without a tie, will come. He is the

senior Reporter of THE HINDU. You simply have to

follow him, wherever he goes”, said R.R. He then

added as an afterthought: “He tends to get scoops.

Don’t lose sight of him!”.

It occurred to me that journalism was an easy affair;

one only has to see that the THE HINDU man does

not get lost. I went to the Chepauk guest house, and

sat in the lounge where another man was sitting. He

was R.K.K.Menon, a Reporter for the Madras

MAIL. Then THE HINDU man came, and I could

instantly recognise him. I went up to him and

introduced myself. He looked at me with a glassy

expression in his eyes and asked me why I opted to

become a Reporter, leaving the job of a Lecturer.

12

“You don’t know, but once a reporter, always a

reporter”, he said. “If there is any chance, go back to

your College”, he advised. I politely thanked him for

his advice, but remembering what RR said, I followed

him, as he led a group of four reporters to room after

room of various departments located in the Chepauk

offices complex. This was an old building of the

Nawab of Arcot, and I saw nameplates such as

“Director of Industries”, or “Director of Agriculture”

or “Director of Sericulture” and Ranga Rao would

walk into the office of the Personal Assistant to the

Director, and ask him: “Is there any news?”. “No,

Sir, nothing today”, the man would reply, and we

would go into another PA’s room, and the same

routine would be repeated. After walking along the

corridor, from one end to another, Ranga Rao would

lead us to the canteen, and considering that was my

first day in the profession, I offered to buy coffee and

tiffin for all the four of us. Ranga Rao virtually

admonished me for attempting to do so: “Everyone

of us gets a salary, is it not so? So everyone must pay

for his tiffin, don’t you think so?’ he asked. This was

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the rule among Madras reporters those days, each

paying for himself though all went in a group.

That evening, I was assigned to cover a meeting

addressed by Chief Minister, K.Kamaraj. He spoke

to Non Gazatted Officers at a function for about 15

minutes. His theme was that NGOs should regard

themselves as the servants of the people, not as

Masters, and interpret the rules in favour of the

common people. I went to the office and typed out a

one page report and showed it to a senior reporter

present, who approved it, and sent it to the

Teleprinter department, for onward transmission to

Chittoor, where “Master”, the News Editor, sat. His

name was C.S.Seshadri but everyone called him

“Master” as I believe he was a tuition master for

Bhagwandas Goenka, the son of Ramanath Goenka.

Next morning, I got up quite early, and waited for the

newspaper to drop into the house, and was thrilled to

see my first report in print! It was a single column

report on Page 1, titled “servants of people”. I went

through the reports of the function in THE HINDU

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and other dailies and compared my choice of words

with the reports in those dailies. Since most of the

senior reporters in The Indian Express were either

dismissed or sent out, junior reporters got the best

assignments, and we made the best of opportunities

that came our way.

Next day, I found that Ganapati Sarma had marked

a small one centimeter report in THE HINDU and

told me that I had missed that report. I don’t

remember what it was about, but it had the magic

phrase: “... told THE HINDU at Chepauk today”

which gave credit to Ranga Rao and blame to the

other reporters covering the beat. That day, naturally

I was cool to Ranga Rao, since I thought he did us

wrong by getting a scoop, but we four went together

to various departments where the PAs told us that

there was no news, and we went to the canteen, ate

something and came back to the office. There was

another scoop by Ranga Rao the following day and

Ganapathi Sarma told me that “Ranga Rao is a wily

person. He easily scores over juniors like you, but you

15


have to keep a watch over him”. I followed Ranga

Rao like a shadow, but I was missing reports. I struck

up some sort of a relationship with R.K.K.Menon,

the Mail reporter, and asked him whether he was also

pulled up for missing Chepauk beat stories. “What

Ranga Rao gives is not news but only

announcements, such as last date for payment of fees

for examinations, or some such thing from the

gazette. He talks to some official, and quotes that

official, saying he told THE HINDU at Chepauk

what had already appeared in the Gazette, just to

score over others. Nobody dare pull me up in the

Mail, because they know that what HINDU scored

was a second hand story of a minor importance”.

But Ganapathi Sarma did not seem to think so.

I was getting worried because I seem to miss stories,

which were being pointed out by Ganapathi Sarma. I

knew no one in journalism to whom I could go for

advise, while those senior journalists in the INDIAN

EXPRESS were keeping aloof, as if they did not want

to reveal their trade secrets!. Here I was, just 23,

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working as a reporter in a profession that was

completely new to me, without any help or guidance.

I started reading Madras datelined reports in THE

HINDU, INDIAN EXPRESS and the MAIL carefully,

to find out what they were covering and what they

were avoiding.

On the fourth day of my Chepauk beat, I thought I

should be able to get a scoop myself. So, after we

dispersed from the canteen, I went to the bus stop,

waiting for buses, and as the others got into their

buses and left, I went back to the Chepauk offices

complex, and took a round of the various blocks all

by myself. There was a small dinghy looking block

which had the board: “Director, Bukingham Canal

Project”. The PA had apparently no work to do and

was sleeping in his chair. I introduced myself and

asked him to send my visiting card to the Director.

He looked up at me and asked me whether Ranga

Rao was on leave that day, but he nevertheless went

inside, and the Director saw me. I knew nothing

about the Buckingham Canal, but asked him how far

17


the canal project had come. The officer looked

communicative, and he spoke about his problems in

cleaning up the canal so that it could be used as a

waterway to transport timber, rice, or tamarind from

the Sriharikota region of Nellore to Madras City.

Water transport was very cheap compared to road or

rail transport, he explained.

I did not know whether the whole thing was “off” or

“on” record, but I wrote out a half a column story,

with the phrase “.. told The Indian Express at

Chepauk today” and showed it to Ganapathi Sarma,

who okayed it. Next day, it appeared as a double

column story on Page 1, and I was happy as I

imagined how Ranga Rao would have been taken to

task for missing such a story. Nothing happened to

Buckingham Canal from then till now, but the 1961

vision I created for the canal as a busy waterway

teaming with boats carrying timber, rice and

tamarind, remains still fresh in my mind.

There was a distinct shift in the attitude of Ranga

Rao and others the next day at Chepauk. I sat as if I

18

was not the author of the story, but Ranga Rao said

one should not get others in trouble by giving scoops

in the beats. The Mail man said that it should apply

equally to all four of us, and Ranga Rao agreed, but

he added: “now and then, a small scoop is OK”.

Every day of the week, I was assigned to cover public

meetings, and it became tiresome, because I had to

catch the last bus on Route No. 29 to Perambur from

the Express Estates in Mount Road at about 8.40 pm.

If you missed the bus, you had to sleep in the office,

because auto rickshaws were very few and were

terribly expensive for long distances. Taxis were out

of question.

I settled down in my new profession quite uneasily,

because I still did not know how to write a report,

and was wondering whether I will make a mark.

One day, the teleprinter operator came to the room

and told me that Master wanted to speak to me at

the Teleprinter room. I thought the old man must

have found out something I missed at Chepauk, and

reluctantly went. But Master said: “You see, that

19


Krishnamurthy Iyer, has given 100 pages to the

Teleprinter operator for transmission to Chittoor.

You must read that stuff and give a story in 800

words. Can you do that?”. I said I will try.

Krishnamurthy Iyer retired from Mail, and was

working for the Indian Express as the High Court

reporter. Some judge retired from service, and in the

open court, they paid him farewell. What the

venerable Krishnamurthy Iyer, the man in a coat and

turban, already 75 years old, did was to write just

one sentence each in five pages, such as - “Bidding

farewell to the brother Judge, the Chief Justice said..”

and here followed the full text of 40 pages of the CJ’s

speech, and “the Advocate General said...” and

another 30 pages, and “replying to the felicitations

the Judge said” ... another 45 pages. I told Master I

was assigned to go to Chepauk that day. “Don’t

worry, today do this job only”. I sat down with the

bunch of papers, not knowing where to begin. Slowly,

I regained my composure; I read the bunch of papers,

taking down notes here and there. I remembered one

thing - that the report should be only 800 words long,

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and I decided I will give the CJ about 400 words, and

200 words each to the Judge and Advocate General.

Then the scene started to come into a focus, and I

picked phrases of my choice, and did a summary.

That was quite a task, and next day, Master

telephoned to say I did quite a good job!

I was meeting more and more reporters of the other

dailies during my evening meeting assignments,

people such as Namasivayam of Nava India,

Murugesan of Malai Murasu, and L.Venkatraman

of Press Trust of India. LV was quite a friendly

person, and he used to say a good word about my

reports in the Express. He gave lot of useful tips.

How to write a report? “You see, you are an

intelligent member of the audience, and as you come

out of a meeting, someone will ask you what

transpired at the meeting. You say something, and

the way you summed up the meeting, is your lead. It

is as simple as that. Use simple words. Write simple

sentences. Read PTI and Reuter reports for clarity.

The finished product is there for all to see, these are

the good reports, try to follow those examples. That

21


is all there is to learn in journalism”, he used to say.

I got a good break one day when the Vice President,

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, addressed a meeting at

Rajaji Hall. A senior reporter from THE HINDU

was assigned to cover the meeting, attended by the

elite of Madras city, and I sat among the audience, as

Radhakrishnan mixed philosophy and politics to

deliver a beautiful speech. As I sat through the

torrent of words, I was quite immersed in thought,

wondering what to report from a speech that looked

good from beginning to end, but there was nothing

by way of a “news point”. As I travelled in the bus to

Express Estates, I located an outline in the speech,

and keeping my deadline of catching my last bus to

Perambur, I hurriedly typed out a report in 20

minutes flat and went home. My report appeared as

the second lead story in the Express, while THE

HINDU missed the speech altogether. It appeared

that the senior reporter took the speech in full in

shorthand, and spent lot of time reading notes,

trying to figure out where to start from. The desk

22

asked him for the copy at 9 pm, 10 pm and 10.30 pm

but still his report was not ready. The sub editor

consulted the News Editor and said he will not take

the report if it came after 11 pm. So the report, in

about four columns or 4,000 words, given at

midnight, never made it to the paper.

Next day, there was a discussion in THE HINDU as

to why they could not carry the report, and how a

cub reporter in the Express managed it. A few days

later, Ranga Rao took me aside at Chepauk, and

asked me whether I was willing to work for THE

HINDU. Yes, of course, I said. Then he asked me to

come to their office and meet the Chief Reporter. I

went to THE HINDU and met A.K.Venkatesa Iyer,

the Chief of Bureau. Those days, THE HINDU

wanted a reporter to have a first class MA degree,

and a diploma in shorthand and typewriting. I had

learnt shorthand and typewriting while I was in

College hoping to do some job in summer holidays,

and so I fulfilled their conditions. AKV saw my

biodata and was satisfied. A few days later, I was

23


asked to appear for an interview, with Sri G.Kasturi,

then Joint Editor and K.Balaraman, a Deputy Editor,

who had just returned from New York after winning

the UN Correspondents medal for distinguished

reporting. I remember only that the interview went

on for about 40 minutes, and suddenly Kasturi asked

me when could I join the THE HINDU. “Within a

day or two Sir”, I replied. “Will they relieve you so

early?” he asked. I told him I was only an apprentice

Reporter, and I could explain THE HINDU offer and

they would not come in the way. That was how I

joined THE HINDU in June, 1962. I was placed on

probation for one year, because I was 24 years old,

and I should be 25 before I could be confirmed in the

job.

AKV was a formidable personality, wearing a dhothi

with a coat and a turban, and he sat at the head of

the table in the Reporting section. He rarely spoke

with reporters. There were about 15 reporters in all

and we assembled around 11 am daily. There was

always a hushed silence in the room. AKV would

24

give the assignments around 11.30 am, and the dairy

would be passed round by an attender and reporters

would leave for their assignments at noon. There was

a water attendant, who gave hot water to reporters,

and a number of them took it, saying that hot water

was good to quench thirst. Somehow, I preferred cold

water, which was available in the Editorial hall where

the sub- editors worked. S.Srinivasan was the Deputy

Chief Reporter. I sat at the end of the hall, along

with D.V.Vasudevan, who reported High Court

proceedings for a week and religious discourses for

another week, A.R.Srinivasan, our Agriculture

Correspondent, and M.C.Sampath who also reported

religious discourses on alternate weeks. The

atmosphere in the Indian Express reporters’ room

was informal, while it was very formal at THE

HINDU. Reporters rarely socialised and there was a

hierarchical relationship, with the senior reporters

keeping aloof from the younger ones, and behaving

as if they were preoccupied with important subjects

of a national importance, while their actual output

was minimal.

25


THE HINDU reporters dreaded having to carry a

correction. So, they made a big fetish of carrying

reports that nobody would contradict. This consisted

of telephoning the man who addressed a press

conference, usually a junior official, and read out the

report to him, and get his nod for its publication. It

was the general rule to avoid comment in the report,

lest the official might contradict it. The junior

reporters usually ventured to make a comment here

and there, and sometimes these got into print because

they were harmless, but the senior reporters would

cite these reports as proof of the falling standards in

journalism! THE HINDU preferred lengthy reports,

sometimes verbatim if leaders like Rajaji spoke, and

these were published without a lead, because the

reader was supposed to be intelligent enough to

decide what was important in the speech, and did not

need the reporter’s help in deciding it!

The Chief Reporters of all dailies invariably assigned

themselves to the “Secretariat” beat. This was the

seat of the Government, and certainly an important

26

assignment, but the Chief Ministers of Tamilnadu

rarely addressed press conferences, nor any Ministers,

and so the Chief Reporters were obliged to report

official postings. So and so District Registrar,

working at Cuddalore, transferred to Chengleput,

vice another Registrar, transferred from Chengleput

to Salem, and so on! The Chief Reporters took

another senior reporter along with them, and the

senior reporters dictacted these tidbits of information

to reporters on duty sitting in the office. I never knew

nor did I ever ask how the Chief Reporter and the

senior reporter spent their time, but they arrived at

the office at 3 pm, to approve of the typed copy of the

postings! I thought I would never do that job,

completely devoid of any initiative.

I got the “Corporation” beat. This consisted of

going to the Madras General Hospital, the Central

station and the Ripon Buildings, the seat of the

Municipal Corporation of Madras. Since the bus

stop was at the Exit gate of the Hospital, we entered

the Hospital at the Mortuary end, checked about the

27


dead bodies brought to the mortuary, noting down

the name of police station which was enquiring into

the mysterious deaths, and walking across the wards

to the Casualty department where we met the

Casualty Medical Officer for any case of “burns”, or

“poisoning” or accident cases. Some CMOs refused

to let the reporters see the registers. Those days, the

joke was that the patients entered the Hospital at the

Casualty department and left via mortuary, while

reporters did the opposite!. From the Hospital, we

had to cross the road again to the Central and see

whether any trains were running late, and then to the

Ripon Buildings where a Deputy Commissioner gave

a heap of notifications about various subjects, such

as last dates for payment of water bills and

municipal taxes. Reporters generally treated these

petty officials with respect because they would help if

we had any problem with municipal staff in our

areas. We would return to the office by 2.30 pm, and

go to our subsidized canteen for food. Day after day,

week after week, I did this beat, trying to like the

drab job as best as I could. Every day I covered a

28

meeting in the evening. The assignments were not

difficult, but the sheer drabness ran us down and

sapped our energy. I used to like night duties, which

we got once a month, because we could escape this

drudgery.

Around this time, the Tamil eveninger, Malai Murasu

(Evening Drum) started publication from the Dina

Thanthi group. There was only one Tamil eveninger

till then, the staid Swadesamitran, started around the

time THE HINDU started in 1880s. The

Swadesamithran was clearly on the decline, having a

circulation of about 20,000 copies, and Malai

Murasu came with a bang, with an initial print order

of 60,000 copies, which it soon increased to one lakh.

The paper appeared at the wayside shops by 2.30 pm,

with screaming headlines, to beat Swadesamitran,

which appeared on the streets at 5 pm. Malai

Murasu always led with city crime stories while

Swadesamithran gave lot of space on Page 1 to

national and international news. The dead body of a

young woman that was washed ashore near

29


Triplicane beach, which we would have noted at the

mortuary two hours earlier, would reveal in Malai

Murasu as the bride in a marriage photo who was

forced to commit suicide because of ill treatment.

The Police would not give details to us, but the paper

gave the whole story. It was always a challenge,

because Malai Murasu had reporters going to every

Police station in Madras to scout for these stories,

contacting the families, and publicising stories of

their hopes and frustrations. They broke new ground

in Tamil journalism. Sundaresan of Malai Murasu

was the beat reporter who was very versatile, and he

spent all his time at the General Hospital. He always

wrote first hand stories, and his sources were the

victims of the hospital staff. He always beat us, but I

did not have any problem because our reports were

measured against those appearing in the Indian

Express and the Mail, and those reports were no

different from ours. And so, it went on for about

three years.

During night duties, I used to produce a paper called

30

“Daily Noise”, in which I parodied reports by senior

Correspondents in THE HINDU. N.Ranga Rao was

on duty and a youngster telephoned to convey a result

of a football league match - Mambalam mosquitoes

beat Triplicane Riders four goals to one. Ranga Rao

would ask: “Wait a minute! This means that

Mambalam mosquitoes made four goals while

Triplicane Riders put one goal, is it not?” and the boy

would respond: “Er, yes, sir!”. Ranga Rao would

persist: “That means that four goals were scored

against Triplicane Riders and one goal against

Mambalam mosquitoes, is it not?”, and the boy

would say: “I will check and call you back Sir”.

If the gazette carried an announcement that the High

Court would be closed on June 30 for mahalaya

amavasya, Ranga Rao would get the panchangam

and check whether the amavasya falls on that day or

not.

THE HINDU published a report one day: “Import of

Minas Oil Banned”. Underneath there was a two

sentence report: “It is reliably learnt that

31


Government has banned the import of minas oil into

the Country. For what purpose minas oil was

imported so far, and in which industry it was used, is

not known”. The fact is that the clerk in charge of

the Andhra Chamber of Commerce at Thambu

Chetty Street did not know the answer, but he got a

copy of the notification from the Government of

India which he showed to THE HINDU beat reporter.

I made fun of this report in my Daily Noise. This

four page typewritten sheet made the rounds in the

Editorial department through Nandakumar and

Palani Prasad, two Sub Editors. These reports

became talking points in the desk, and in discussions

at the 11pm night tea session in the canteen, where

we regularly assembled during night duties, and we

loosened up a bit, cracking jokes at other’s expense.

The bottom line for meticulousness was laid by a

senior reporter called P.R.Srinivasan, who was asked

one day to verify whether a certain gentleman had

died in Salem. PRS went to the gentleman’s house,

carrying his usual umbrella, and found him sitting in

32

his verandah reading THE HINDU. “What, Sir”, PRS

said by way of greeting: “I am glad to see you alive”.

The man became suspicious and asked him why he

was glad to see him alive. “I mean, I am glad to see

you healthy and safe”, PRS said. So, the story goes,

while other newspapers reported his death, THE

HINDU did not, because of the meticulous care of its

Correspondent. Those days, THE HINDU was

regarded as the byword for “correct” news. Nothing

that appeared in THE HINDU could be wrong!.

This fact was drilled into the reporters ears.

One of the assignments I dreaded was covering

meetings at the Lakshmipuram Young Mens

Association in Mylapore. This was a small room that

could seat about 70 people, with a thatched roof, and

the walls were dotted with pictures of eminent

people, all unveiled at functions reported by THE

HINDU. I covered a number of them. The reporters

were the youngest of the lot, because the minimum

age of the audience was 65. They used to saunter in

leisurely around 6.30 pm, and were prepared to sit

33


there till their dinner time. People like Rajaji, High

Court Judges, eminent diplomats, top IAS officers

found it a privilege to address meetings at LYMA.

We reporters called it LOMA, after a popular hair oil

of that time, because most were bald, and were

actually Old Men. We used to give lengthy reports

because Chief Reporters would next day ask you why

you did not give that point highlighted in the Indian

Express.

Those days, reporters had a low status in society.

Covering Rotary meetings at the Connemera Hotel in

Mount Road was quite an embarrassing experience,

because reporters were seated at the door, and were

not allowed to participate in the snacks served to the

members. One day, we discussed this issue at the

Reporters’ Guild and passed a resolution, saying

reporters would boycott Rotary meetings if they were

not invited for the snacks. There was a welcome

change, and the reporters were from then received

invitations for the “tea and snacks”. One of those

days, there was a foreign dignitary passing through

34

the Madras airport, we were asked to talk to him as

he was having his lunch. That gentleman did not

have the courtesy to ask the three reporters meeting

him to join in the lunch, and two of us decided to

boycott his press meet. When the Chief Reporter

asked us why we did not report the event, as one

newspaper reported it, I explained what happened.

As I expected, Sri Kasturi’s attender came to the

reporters section looking for me, and I knew there

was trouble. Sri Kasturi said: “you ought to have

reported the press conference and ordered a lunch for

yourself, and the Office would have paid you the

amount. It was wrong to boycott a press conference

on the ground he did not give you lunch, I say!” I was

relieved that I was let off lightly. In subsequent

incidents of this nature, Sri Kasturi always asked us

to have self-confidence, and not to make issues of

giving coffee and lunch central to reporting press

conferences.

Then one day, I got a break quite unexpectedly. I

missed the beat reporters that day, and I went alone

35


to the General Hospital mortuary, where there was a

body of a person killed in a scooter accident on

Mount Road near the vicinity of the Deaf and Dumb

School under construction at Teynampet. There was

this young woman, Lakshmi, who was waiting near

the Mortuary, and I asked her for whom she was

waiting. She was a construction labourer, and she

saw an accident when a car hit two people riding a

scooter, and both fell down and were struggling for

life in a pool of blood. She ran across the road to lift

them up, but could not do so, while a group of people

were looking at the injured persons without offering

help. Then she called her co-worker to help, and

hailed for a taxi. Three taxis whizzed past, but a

fourth taxi stopped. Lakshmi asked the driver to

shift the two injured to Hospital. The taxi man

asked who would pay the fare. Lakshmi said she had

a gold nose ring which she could give. The man

blinked, but agreed to take the two injured men to

the General Hospital. Lakshmi sat with one of the

injured resting his head on her lap, when her yellow

saree turned red with blood. When they reached the

36

Casualty department, one man died, but the other

was struggling for life. She was waiting for the

relatives to come along and take the body.

It was a moving story, of an illiterate woman

foregoing a day’s wages to come to the help of two

injured in an accident, while the Madras city dwellers

had become impersonal and businesslike, and went

about their business as if this was of no concern for

them. I reacted as a human being, and put aside the

known HINDU etiquette of journalism, and wrote a

story in a friendly, informal way, as if I was writing to

a friend. The News Editor, R.Parthasarathy, whom

we called MP (for “MAIL” Parthasarathy, as he

worked in the Mail before, to distinguish him from

another R.Parthasarathy who was an Associate

Editor), liked the story very much, came to the

Reporters Room looking for me, asking whether we

could get her picture. We were given an office car

(which was given only during important assignments)

and myself and the Photographer,

S.Kothandaraman, went to Saidapet slum in search

37


of her. We located her in the evening, and took her

picture. A number of people in the slum were curious

to see us taking her pictures, but Lakshmi took it in

her stride, and was cheerful despite the day’s ordeal.

We saw her bare house, and found that her entire

belongings consisted of a brass vessel and a few

aluminium utensils.

The story, titled “Quality of Mercy”, became a

talking point in Madras. Next day, the Police

Commissioner, K.Ramamurthy, gave her a cash

reward of Rs 25, which was quite a sum those days,

because her daily wage was Rs 1.50. The report was

picked up by other papers, and Lakshmi’s story

became a lead story in Malai Murasu, and she was

interviewed on All India Radio. A reader from

Madurai, K.S.Venkateswaran, sent a parcel to THE

HINDU, with a yellow saree “to replace her saree

turned red in blood”, and a cash of Rs 20 for

Lakshmi. She was magnanimous in her day, because

she gave ten rupees from this gift to her co-worker,

Ramsingh, who helped her in getting the injured into

38

the taxi. The taxi driver was traced and given a

Rs 25 reward by the Police. Every day we used to

receive gifts for her in THE HINDU, and she got in

all Rs 550 as cash gifts, and cheques for Rs 270, and

more importantly, a brass pot as gift from the

Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. She

had said that she wanted to buy one if her gifts went

beyond Rs 100 and the Acharya saw this and sent a

brass pot to THE HINDU. It was my job daily to go

to her house and hand over those gifts. This act

became a turning point in her career because her

husband, who was unemployed, was given a job by

the building firm that employed her while her brother

was given a job as a cleaner in a petrol bunk.

I wrote a number of reports on Lakshmi getting gifts.

On the day I first interviewed her, I had written:

“Lakshmi stood with a pile of bricks on her head by

the side of her husband, wrapped in a dusty, dull

coloured saree. But one thing was shining brightly on

her person - her nose ring!” And later on, that “the

money also caused a small domestic quarrel.

39


Lakshmi’s mother threatened to leave if she was not

given “something” from the gifts, but she was

persuaded to change her mind. This cost Lakshmi Rs

1.50 because she had to forego a day’s work to settle

the dispute” One day, Lakshmi arrived at THE

HINDU’s office on Mount Road and met the Editor,

Sri G.Kasturi, and requested him to give her a job in

THE HINDU. Sri Kasturi politely told her that THE

HINDU did not employ women, and so she returned

disappointed.

Such stories are common place today, but way back in

1965, I wrote one of the first human interest stories in

THE HINDU that created such a big impact on the

public mind. This was possible because of the

encouragement given by R.Parthasarathy, the News

Editor, who mentioned the story in his book:

“Memoirs of a News Editor - 30 years with THE

HINDU” (Naya Prokash, Calcutta, 1980). “I

attempted to break the rigours of anonymity in the

Reporters room by encouraging reporters to go after

human interest stories and promising them the

40

by-line, “By Our Staff Reporter”. This produced

results beyond my expectation. One of them was so

unusual and out of the ordinary for THE HINDU

readers that it created quite a stir. ... The story

appeared as a box item on Page 1 and the readers’

response was electric. There were hundreds of letters

from all parts of the State hailing Lakshmi as an

outstanding woman of courage and humanity. The

reporter who did the story, Rajendra Prasad, found

his way up the ladder much easier and speedier. He

soon became the youngest Chief of THE HINDU’s

news bureau in Hyderabad.”

41


In 1965, Sri Kasturi deputed me to the Press Institute

of India at Delhi for a four week foundation course in

journalism. When I entered the profession, there was

hardly any University offering a course in Journalism

in the South India, and we became reporters by

chance. The Press Institute’s was a good course, and

satisfied my urge for learning the techniques of

journalistic writing. Chanchal Sircar, a former

Assistant Editor at Statesman, was the Director of

the Institute, and he designed the course in such a

way that it included all aspects of newspaper writing.

The PII was located in Barakamba Road, it was a

spacious place with living rooms on the second floor

and lecture halls on the first floor. The mess was in

the ground floor. I visited the Press Institute again in

1994, as a Member of the Committee to prepare

guidelines for the proposed Press Academy of Andhra

Pradesh, and it was disappointing to see the PII had

shrunk to one floor, where it was located in a

cramped place, and the PII had long ago given up its

foundation courses.

My Coastal Andhra Assignment

42

In 1965, it was my first visit to Delhi, and I was one

among 20 journalists from all over the country who

underwent the training. An Indian who worked as a

News Editor in Guardian newspaper in London was

Course Director. I remember he showed us the piece

he wrote from outside the Wimbledon courtyard, by

standing among people who could not get tickets to

witness the match, and he wrote a very lively piece

about the way people followed the match by the

sounds heard from the stadium. They invited several

foreign correspondents working in Delhi to give us

lectures, and these senior journalists gave useful tips.

One tip I followed throughout my career was the one

given by a Reuter correspondent at Delhi. He said a

reporter should always carry a pocket dictionary,

and if the word he was searching for was not in that

dictionary, the word was not worth using. Walter

Lipman’s column was cited for its clarity of thought,

and the use of simple words. They gave us several

assignments to cover, and one that I remember even

today was what I wrote about the “first Independence

day without Nehru”. I went to the Red Fort for the

43


new Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Sastri, unfurling

the national flag and wrote about what people spoke

about the new PM, and comparing him with Nehru.

My assignment at PII was part of training journalists

in the new styles in reporting. THE HINDU was in

the forefront of changes taking place in journalism as

well as in printing and distribution techniques. We

were the first newspaper to employ four Dakota

aircraft to carry bundles of paper, printed in Madras,

and distributed in Hyderabad and Vijayawada to

start with. While returning from Madras to my

assignment at Vijayawada, I used to travel in the

Dakota, sitting in a chair surrounded by newspaper

parcels. At Vijayawada, we used to disembark and

wait for newspaper agent’s boys unloading the

parcels in a hurry, and placing them in taxis, because

time was the essence in THE HINDU’s distribution

efforts. For some days, THE HINDU started a

passenger service also, and I remember, we used to

transport jasmine flowers from Gannavaram to

Madras around 1968/71. Sometimes, we used to get

44

odd telephone calls at midnight from people who had

to urgently reach Madras by the morning, and we

used to put on those requests to people working in

business departments. I also remember that Morarji

Desai, as Deputy Prime Minister, was stranded in

Bhimavaram during an inspection of a cyclone, and

THE HINDU’s Dakota aircraft was sent to pick him

up and take him to Madras. Capt Havell, the pilot

of the aircraft, used to talk about his experience years

later!

My first “Edit” page article appeared in THE

HINDU on September 16, 1962, within four months

of my joining the paper. It was titled “Laboratory”

To Test Naughty Children’ and dealt with the

problem of juvenile delinquency. I wrote a regular

column - “Around the Colleges” - in which I

discussed lack of student response to courses in B.A.

History classes, the problem of ragging etc.

In a report titled: Ripon Buildings lacking in

Cleanliness”, I wrote:

45


“The walls are dusty, the corridors are strewn with

pieces of paper and the glass doors of a library shelf

on the first floor do not seem have been touched in

years. Probably no book was borrowed from the

library gifted to the Corporation decades ago by a

philanthropist.

“Inside dark rooms with high ceilings, the clerks work

on rickety old furniture, the desks filled with files

stacked to a height of two feet and more.

A fresh chair was given to a reporter in the Press

gallery today after the one he was sitting in started to

creek in the middle”

This is from a report about speech of Union

Education Minister, M.C.Chagla, at St. Paul’s High

School’s 250th anniversary celebrations in Vepery:

“As Mr Chagla started speaking on the “three most

unfortunate features of our education system”, a

little boy stood up and called his teacher. A harassed

man came up running asking in a loud whisper:

What is it? What is it?. The boy pointed to his

46

neighbour, and emptying his pockets, said “He is

putting sand into my packets”. The teacher seated

them separately. The students squatted on the floor

and the Minister sat on the dias, and so the speeches

literally went over the students’ heads. A little boy

sat gaping at the Rt Rev Lesslie Newbegin, as the

Bishop stood on his toes throughout his speech.

Meanwhile, another boy built a sand castle around

the first boy’s hand. The castle fell when the speech

was over. When Mr Chagla said “... I will not be

alive when you celebrate your 300th anniversary”, the

VIPs in the front row smiled politely, but a ripple of

laughter came from the back row. The boys caught

the laughter and thinking something important was

said, started clapping vigorously. Hissing teachers

put an end to it”

When I returned to Madras at the end of the PII

course, News Editor, Parthasarathy, one day called

me to his cabin to announce that I should go to

Vijayawada on a touring assignment. The idea was

that I should be continuously on tour for three

47


months at a sretch, touring all of coastal Andhra and

send “out-of-the-way stories”. As Parthasarathy

explained it, there was no need for me to cover

routine press conferences and Ministers’ functions.

What out of way stories?, I wondered. Then, he said:

“You travel by bus, and listen carefully to what the

fellow passengers are talking about. Those are

subjects relevant to the paper. You simply have to

develop those stories”.

Those days THE HINDU was a 16-page edition with

just a half-a-page devoted to Andhra news. We had

a bureau at Hyderabad, headed by P.Vaman Rao,

with five Staff Correspondents, and there were two

Staffers in coastal Andhra, I.R.K.Sastry at

Vijayawada and Kapila Gopal Rao at

Visakhapatnam. Hyderabad bureau sent enough

matter to fill up the page and so the brief reports

these two gentlemen sent were all that the readers in

coastal Andhra got in THE HINDU. I was sent to

test the potential for news gathering in coastal

Andhra.

48

So one day in October 1966 I landed at Vijayawada

at 5 am, and went to the Welcome Hotel in

Gandhinagar. This was a good hotel, with an

excellent restaurant called Eskimo. I was

comfortable with my daily allowance of Rs 30,

because the room rent was nine rupees a day and the

food was available at reasonable rates. I sauntered

around the town and was soon struck by the fact that

the numerous statues in the town were on eight to ten

feet high pedestals while the statues were only two

feet high, with their ears and nose chopped off

because they were made of cement. The pedastals

were tall in order to accomodate the names of all

Corporators, and officials, but there was no mention

of the dignitary whose statue they erected. This was

my first story from Vijayawada. Two days later, I

went to a meeting of writers on the terrace of

Visalandhra in Governorpet, where authors of repute

like Peddibotla Subbaramayya, Adivishnu and Veeraji

spoke about trends in Telugu literature.

It was a good story, which appeared as a box in

49


Andhra pages. Titled “Young Telugu Writers Break

Away from Traditional Themes”, the report said : “In

an effort to conform to reality and break from

tradition, young Telugu writers are now depicting

middle class frustrations, often at the risk of

offending ‘mass’ readership of Telugu weekly and

monthly magazines.

“When I talk of the common man”, a 28-year old

short story writer, Peddibhotla Subbaramayya, said,

“I mean the student in College who dreams of a good

career, a decent bungalow, a car and a beautiful wife.

But he sees his dreams shattered soon: probably he is

the eldest son, stop his education midway, marry to

enable his sister’s marriage and struggle to get a Rs

100 job. When he lives in a house with five other

tenants, his frustration is complete”. Subbaramayya

wrote about the frustrations of these people.

From Vijayawada I went to Guntur, Kakinada,

Visakhapatnam, Palasa and other towns for which I

took a fancy and wrote stories about various events

50

taking place, which got published in THE HINDU

for the first time. The fact I was based at Vijayawada

was noticed by the readers as well as rival

newspapers. These were features like stories and

senior journalists of other newspapers were amused,

saying that they found it odd that THE HINDU was

wasting so much space on “non-news” items. I took

their criticism in my stride, because only a Minister’s

statement or public meeting was considered as a

news item those days.

At the end of this touring assignment, I returned to

Madras in January, 1967, and was assigned to cover

“interesting bits of information” about the elections

to Tamilnadu Assembly. This was a momentous

election, because DMK came to power for the first

time in Tamilnadu, and the Congress was defeated

for good. C.Rajagopalachari was in the Swatantra

Party, and during the campaign, he described

Kamaraj Nadar as a “Black Crow”. The Congress

leader, Ms Anandanayaki, returned the compliment

by calling Rajaji a “20th Century Fox” after a

51


Hollywood movie studio of that name. Rajaji replied

in his meeting that day: “A crow is black, and when I

called Kamaraj a black crow, I meant that he was the

best among the lot. When I was a student, an uncle

came to my house one day and asked me a simple

question. He said there were 30 crows on a tree, and

asked me how many crows remain after he shoots

one down with his gun. I replied 29, and he pitied my

lack of common sense. If he shoots down one, all 29

crows would have flown off. We have 30 Congress

governments in the Country, Kamaraj is the best

example of these Governments, and if we defeat

Kamaraj here, then all 30 governments in the

Country would fall”, Rajaji explained.

I wrote stories about a timber merchant fighting the

elections as an Independent candidate from

Triplicane, on speakers who charge money to speak

at public functions if the arrival of the VIP is delayed,

and on people who prepare the banners and

hoardings of the contesting candidates. THE

HINDU editorially urged people to re-elect Kamaraj.

52

Those were days of severe rice shortage, and when

the MAIL published a picture of a big queue in front

of a Cooperative Store for rationed rice, Chief

Minister, M.Bhakthavatsalam, mockingly said that

was “actually a queue for cinema tickets, and the

paper mischiviously reported this as a rice queue”. It

was in this campaign that C.N.Annadurai promised

to supply rice at one rupee per madras measure. A

madras measure contained eight “alaks” of rice,

while five alaks weighed one kilogram. If he did not

fulfill this promise, Annadurai said, “people can beat

me with sticks”. The DMK won the election but

Annadurai did not keep this promise. For technical

reasons, the Tamilnadu Government sold rice at one

rupee a measure in Coimbatore only for a few

months.

This promise resurfaced when N.T.Rama Rao

founded the Telugu Desam in Andhra Pradesh in

1982, and he came up with a promise to supply rice

at Rs 2 per kg. NTR came to power and fulfilled his

promise.

53


In July, 1967, I was transferred on a permanent basis

to Vijayawada as Special Correspondent for Coastal

Andhra. I spent three years there. Those days, the

Srikakulam Naxalite movement had begun, with the

slogan “China’s Chairman is our Chairman” and

“power flows from the barrel of the gun”. I felt very

disturbed when I visited the house of a small time

trader at Palasa murdered by a Naxalite group.

They collected his blood in a bucket, and wrote the

two slogans with the blood on all the walls of the

house. It was a ghastly sight.

While at Vijayawada, I became acquainted with

Manam Anjaneyulu, who was a Sub-Editor in

Visalandhra, the CPI daily. Anjaneyulu opposed the

politics of Katragadda Rajagopala Rao, Editor of

Visalandhra, and was transferred to the trade union

wing in Visakhapatnam. Whenever I went to

Visakhapatnam, he became a constant companion.

He was a good organiser. When there was a student

strike at AVN College at Visakhapatnam, we visited

the College and found the gates closed. I sent in my

54

visiting card, and was admitted, but Anjaneyulu

managed to come in as Correspondent of

Visalandhra without any identity card. We found

that a student meeting was in progress at a lecture

hall and we went to see what the students were

discussing about. Within no time, I saw Anjaneyulu

turning himself into a student leader, and addressing

the gathering, asking them to go on strike! I met the

Principal and took his version but Anjaneyulu did not

come. Anjaneyulu became a good source for the

letters and books published by the CPI (ML) group

and I benefitted by his friendship. In 1994 elections,

Anjanyulu became an MLA from Pendurthi, on the

CPI ticket, benefiting by the landslide for N.T.Rama

Rao who won 250 seats in the Assembly for himself

and his allies out of the 294. Katragadda

Rajagopala Rao later went to the Congress and was

soon out of politics. Once Anjaneyulu was arrested

for sheltering an underground naxalite, and myself

and our Staff Reporter at Visakhapatnam, Kapila

Gopala Rao, went to the Superintendent of Police to

get him released.

55


The best interview I obtained was with

M.L.Narayana, a member of the District Committee

of the CPI (ML), who was arrested while trying to

escape from a jail break at Visakhapatnam.

Anjaneyulu and me went to a magistrate court and

found that Narayana was permitted to talk to his

father for a few minutes on the corridors of the

Court. I did not know what Anjaneyulu told the

court official, but both of us were permitted to stand

within earshot of the prisoner. Narayana had a good

academic background, having a B.Tech degree from

Kharagpur Indian Insitute of Technology, while his

father looked like a farmer. The father was saying

“Leave this organisation and come home. We have a

bride ready for you. Your brother in the Army had

specifically asked me to plead with you to come

home”. Narayana avoided looking at his father in

the face, and was either looking at the ceiling or the

ground. He was shifting his head from left to right,

as if he rejected the suggestion. “Look Narayana, if

you think that you will get a revolution by killing a

dozen people, I am prepared to join with you with my

56

scythe and kill them. You tell me will a revolution

come that way?” Then the father broke down and

with his eyes filled with tears, added: “Please do come

home and look at your mother for once”. Then the

Court officials intervened and led Narayana away

from his father.

It was a moving experience for me. Anjaneyulu

talked to the father for a few minutes and he was also

asked to withdraw from the corridor. I wrote a story

about the human aspect of naxalite youth breaking

off their relations with their families for the cause of

an uncertain revolution. This was featured as a Page

1 box story. Later on, the magistrate tried to find out

how I interviewed Narayana without his permission,

and sent a summons to my hotel address where I was

not available.

I met Nagabushanam Patnaik, one of the big leaders

of the Srikakulam movement, at the residence of a

civil liberties activist, C.Venkatakrishna, in

Secunderabad some years later, when he gave a new

57


insight into the movement. In 1969, the Communist

Party of India (Marxist) had its Andhra plenum at

Palacole in which several CPI (M) leaders such as

Tarimela Nagi Reddy, Chandra Pulla Reddy,

Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao and Kolla Venkayya

presented an alternative document. This group

claimed majority in the Central Committee, but the

CPI (M) leadership expelled them, filled up the

consequent vacancies with others, and announced

that the alternative document was defeated. But the

Tarimela Nagi Reddy group then floated the

Marxist-Leninist group with which the Srikakulam

district committee was affiliated. But as ill-luck

would have it for them, the entire group went to

Madras and was staying in a out of the way house in

the present Anna Nagar, which was then being

developed for a World Trade Fair, when they were

arrested en masse and prosecuted under the

Secunderabad Conspiracy Case.

Nagabushanam Patnaik said that Charu

Mazumdar came to Srikakulam and “hijacked” the

58

Party, saying that a marxist party can capture power

only under the guidance of Mao Zedung thought

through an armed revolution. Tarimela Nagi Reddy

advocated building up militant power struggles above

ground, by motivating farmers and agricultural

labourers, but Charu Mazumdar took the

Srikakulam group in an altogether different

direction. Those days, the Cultural Revolution was

taking place in China, and they published an article

in the People’s Daily praising the Srikakulam

movement, titled “Spring Thunder in Srikakulam”

which was acclaimed as an endorsement of the

Srikakulama movement by the Chinese Communist

Party. Patnaik said he was against the Charu

Mazumdar line of individual anhilation but he was

out voted in the party committee. Patnaik believed

that the slogan “China’s Chairman is our

Chairman” was wrong.

The Srikakulam movement went on from about 1969

till 1971. Compared to the space that Telugu

newspapers are devoting to the People’s War today in

59


2004, the Srikakulam movement was virtually

ignored by the Andhra press. Eenadu came only in

1974, and the Andhra Prabha, Andhra Patrika,

Andhra Jyothi and Andhra Bhoomi reported only

police version of the events taking place there, and

statements by Jalagam Vengal Rao, then Home

Minister in Brahmananda Reddy Cabinet, about how

Government would put down the movement. It was

therefore a virgin ground for me, and I wrote three or

four editorial page articles about the movement and

what they stood for.

Those days K.V. Sriramkumar was the

Superintendent of the Vizianagaram district Police,

and he permitted me to interview Chowdhary

Sampurnamma, a mother with a two year old baby,

who were both in jail. She was defiant, saying that

she was in prison for the sake of hundreds of

girijans, such as Savaras and Jatapus, who were

languishing in jail. Her demand was that

Government should withdraw the cases. This

interview was reproduced in the Liberation

60

magazine, a pro- CPI (ML) publication, edited by

Sashital Ray Chowdhary.

I used to regularly meet Paravada Lakshu Naidu,

who was the lawyer appearing for the CPI (ML)

groups. Once the Police filed a case against 68 tribal

people on a charge of looting at a shandy in

Gummalakshmipuram, and they cited a pair of

dhothis as the material looted! In contrast, when

landlords opened fire on a group of girijans coming

to their house for a demonstration, killing two, Police

said they could not identify who opened fire! From

the affidavits filed in courts at Parvathipuram, I

wrote a number of stories about the Srikakulam

movement, highlighting the utter poverty in the

region, the distress in which the girijans pursued their

livelihood, and the way the developmental programs

all floundered because of lack of linkages. .

I also wrote a column called “Campus Scene” about

the Andhra University. In one column, I wrote that

the Academic Council and Senate of Andhra

61


University disposed of 207 topics in a two day

session, but members failed to discuss the

fundamental problem - about the large number of

failures in University examinations. Of 26,400

students who took the Pre University Course

examination, 18,000 failed. In the B.Sc degree

examination, 3,900 students took the examination

and 2,500 failed. I wrote that “even this per centage

of passes was possible only because of a liberal dose

of moderation”. “Not much independent criticism of

the University policies could be expected from the

Senate because 87 of its 119 members were

nominated. The large mass of University Professors

and College principals have generally taken a passive

attitude to educational problems and sit literally in

the back benches”. The Vice Chancellor, Mr

L.Bullayya, said that the performance of the

“Academic Council was not unsatisfactory”. Asked

why fundamental issues concerning failures do not

figure in the discussions, Mr Bullayya said: “If, as you

say, the College lecturers hold strong views about the

validity of the syllabus and classroom problems, there

62

is no reason why these views should not be reflected

in the Academic Council discussions. We have never

prevented anyone from expressing his views frankly

so far”.

Towards the end of the year 1970, I one day received

a call from our News Editor, R.Parthasarathy, asking

me to proceed to Hyderabad, on transfer. I was

comfortable in Vijayawada, and was just then finding

my feet in coastal Andhra, when they want to

transfer me to Hyderabad!. I tried to resist the

transfer: “Is the Editor not satisfied with my work in

coastal Andhra, Sir”, I asked the News Editor. “No,

he is quite satisfied”, MP replied. “Then why transfer

me to Hyderabad, Sir, I do not fancy working under

H.Venkanna”, I said. “Who said you are going to

work under Venkanna, I say, you are going to head

the bureau there”, said the News Editor. It was very

unusual for a 32 year old reporter being made a

Chief of Bureau in Hyderabad, and I was very happy

at this choice. I wrote a letter to Kasturi, thanking

him for the privelege.

63


We had Mr P.Vaman Rao heading the bureau in

Hyderabad for a long time, but during the Telengana

agitation, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy thought he was

getting a bad press because the IAS officials working

as Directors of Information did not know how to

manage the press, and he invited Vaman Rao to

resign from THE HINDU and head the Information

Department. Vaman Rao was from Karimnagar

area, and he accepted the offer. The choice to head

the bureau was H.Venkanna, the seniormost reporter,

who worked in Kurnool in the past and was

transferred to Hyderabad when it became the State

Capital for the entire State. Venkanna was a

tempermental person and took abrupt decisions that

embarassed THE HINDU. When in 1969 there was a

wild rumour that the river Musi had breached its

banks and was flooding Hyderabad City, people left

what they were doing and were running for cover all

over the City. At that time, Venkanna sent a

teleprinter message to Madras saying that he was

closing down the Hyderabad bureau to save their

lives! Soon it was found that the rumour had no

64

substance and the whole thing turned out to be a big

tamasha. Venkanna was reprimanded for closing

down the office during a crisis, when a newspaper

was expected to function more effectively. And then in

1970, Venkanna was one day reminded by a auto

workshop of a pending bill for Rs 25 for repairs

carried out to the office car. Venkanna lost his cool

and sent a message to Madras office, to “save me

from my creditors”. When this was shown to

Kasturi, he decided to send me to Hyderabad as

Bureau Chief, and I was telephonically instructed to

go to Hyderabad immediately and take charge.

I took THE HINDU Dakota flight and landed in

Begumpet airport to be received by T.Kishore Kumar,

our Circulation Inspector. He became my close

friend and associate in later years. I stayed in my

uncle, S. Ramachandran’s, house in Irrum Manzil

colony. Venkanna talked to me on the telephone, and

came to my house and handed me his Herald car, the

office car for the Chief of Bureau. I engaged a driver

for three months and from him learnt the art of

driving.

65


It was a completely different assignment at

Hyderabad, and I found I had to change my mindset

altogether to make a success of my new job as Chief

of Bureau. I felt like a free bird at Vijayawada, there

was no tension in my job, and I could choose my

destination without anyone asking me why I went to

Guntur rather than to Kakinada. Whatever I wrote

was featured well in the newspaper. But at

Hyderabad, I had to plan my daily assignments and

inform the News Editor at Madras who was covering

what assignment, and when to expect the copy at the

desk. I covered the beats of the Secretariat and the

Chief Minister’s office, like the other Chiefs of

Bureau, while my four other colleagues in the

Bureau covered the High Court, Crime, Sports and

so on. There were a number of press conferences and

public meetings daily. Each of us covered at least two

assignments per day.

The Press corps in Hyderabad in 1970 was marked by

bitter divisions, with one group, with D. Sitaram of

UNI and Statesman and G.Rama Rao of Andhra

P V Narasimha Rao

66

Jyothi, bitterly anti-Brahmananda Reddy, leading one

and dominating the press scene. Sitaram played big

politics, and after Jalagam Vengal Rao became Chief

Minister, he went to his house on the day the Cabinet

was to be sworn in, and insisted on the inclusion of

some of his friends in the Cabinet. Sitaram also went

with Finance Minister, Pidathala Ranga Reddy,

during the latter’s tour of coastal Andhra districts,

and collected funds for his “Skyline” Publication.

Obviously, I was no match for the likes of Sitaram. I

was associated with the other group consisting of

Pullabhatla Venkata Ramana Sarma of Andhra

Patrika and Sham Rao Harnoor of PTI, partly

because our three offices were located within a

kilometre distance, and I used to pick them and go

together to our assignments in my office car. Sarma

and Sham Rao were not pro-Brahmananda Reddy

but they were never aggressive nor did they attempt to

dominate.

Andhra Patrika’s Sarma was quite a character. He

67


used to attend the Congress Legislature Party

meetings, which were not open to the press, and sit in

a corner and apparently go to sleep. Next morning,

Andhra Patrika would carry eight columns of

verbatim report of what went on inside the meeting.

Those were the days when there was no television and

Eenadu was yet to commence publication and

Andhra Patrika was avidly read for its political news.

Sarma worked in Madras, while Andhra was part of

the Madras Presidency, and was shifted to Kurnool in

1953 when it became capital of the Andhra State, and

from there he came to Hyderabad in 1956 when

Andhra Pradesh was constituted. Sarma told me that

before leaving Madras for good, he invited Kamaraj

to his house for tea. Kamaraj was that day elected

Leader of Tamilnadu Congress Legislature Party, but

he came to Sarma’s house and had tea. Sarma could

not conceal his curiosity, and asked Kamaraj whether

he would accomodate his bitter rivals,

M Bhakthavatsalam and C.Subramaniam, in his

Cabinet. “Certainly”, Kamaraj said, adding that he

68

would give each of them half a dozen important

portfolios. Will they not become powerful? “No, this

will pin them down to the Secretariat from morning

till evening and I would be free to play politics”,

Kamaraj replied. Sarma would compare this attitude

with that of Andhra leaders who always sulked

against their rivals. I used to be astonished at the

fact that a powerful leader like Kamaraj chose to

visit the house of a Chief Reporter of a Telugu

Newspaper in Madras, and I wondered whether

Kamaraj went to the houses of the Chiefs of Bureau

of THE HINDU, or Indian Express or the Mail.

Before I came to Hyderabad, there was a controversy

surrounding the Minister, P. Thimma Reddy’s

comment, that “Harijans should be kicked”. I was

told that this was a comment made after the press

conference was over, and only Sitaram reported it for

the Statesman. Sitaram was not present at Thimma

Reddi’s press conference. The Minister made the

comment in the context of an incident at

Kanchikacherla in Krishna district in which a

69


Harijan boy was beaten to death on suspicion that he

stole a valuable from his landlord’s house. This was

a reprehensible incident, Thimma Reddy’s comment

figured in Parliament and a committee was set up to

find out whether the Minister made the comment or

not. I was told that this incident also contributed to

the divisions in the Hyderabad press. The division

manifested itself in verbal duels. My predecessor at

Hyderabad, P. Vaman Rao, left THE HINDU to

become Director of Information, and Sitaram and

Rama Rao usually enjoyed themselves by cutting

jokes at Vaman Rao, and about the nose of Andhra

Patrika Sarma (who was also called Mukku Sarma

because of his slightly curved nose). Though I also

participated in these verbal duels occasionally, I was

considered too young to be subjected to attack.

The separate Telengana agitation had ended when I

came to Hyderabad, though Dr Marri Channa

Reddy, President of Telengana Praja Samithi, was

regularly holding press conferences. It was clear that

Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, the Chief Minister, was

70

on his way out. He became very much devalued

because he was riled and made the subject of ridicule

by Dr Channa Reddy and his Telengana Praja

Samithi activists. But Brahmananda Reddy won the

day because he refused to yield to the demand for his

resignation for nearly a year after the agitation

tapered off.

Dr Channa Reddy was a very abrasive personality. In

a public meeting he would name a Sub Inspector of

Police and issue a warning to him of punishment

when the separate Telengana state was created. He

evoked a sense of fear as a leader of an agitation for

bifurcating the State. The political culture was

vulgarized in the separatist agitation. In 1968 Dr

Channa Reddy lost his job as Union Minister for

Steel in the Indira Gandhi cabinet, after his election

to the State Assembly was set aside on an election

petition filed by Vandemataram Ramachandra Rao,

the Arya Samaj leader. He was debarred from

holding any post for six years, and he returned to

Hyderabad to lead the agitation. Those days, there

71


was a saying in Andhra politics, that “one should

never keep V.B.Raju in and Dr Channa Reddy out of

the Cabinet”, Raju as a Revenue Minister in

Brahmananda Reddi’s cabinet advised the Chief

Minister to resign at the height of the agitation, and

Dr Channa Reddy would start some agitation or

other to occupy himself as he will not keep quiet.

In one of his press conferences, Dr Channa Reddy

suddenly asked me whether G.K. Reddy was the

treasurer of the Congress Party. I was confused

because I did not quickly realise the context.

G.K.Reddy, our famous Political Correspondent,

reported that some of the candidates set up on the

Telengana Praja Samithi tickets in the 1971 Lok

Sabha election were given funds by the Congress

Party. Dr Channa Reddy wanted to deny this. I

informed Sri Kasturi about Dr Channa Reddy’s

denial. Sri Kasturi obviously talked to G.K. Reddy,

and the latter wanted a written statement from Dr

Channa Reddy.

72

I attended the next press conference of Dr Channa

Reddy and he asked me about the correction. I told

him we were waiting for his written statement. He

said he had already sent it to me, and he summoned

A.Madan Mohan, the MLA who later became a

Minister. Madan Mohan said, at first, that he

handed the letter to our office boy and later that the

office was closed when he arrived at our Basheerbagh

office and that he pushed the statement under the

door. This was a blatantly false statement. Those

days we were located in the first floor of a building in

Basheerbagh, and our office functioned till midnight

and opened again at 5 am for the sweepers to clean

the premises. Later I pointed out the discrepancy in

his two versions to Dr Channa Reddy, and he simply

nodded in agreement. We got another statement

from Dr Channa Reddy and published the correction.

In later years I came to know that five of the

candidates set up by Dr Channa Reddy were funded

by the Congress in the elections.

Dr Channa Reddy made his point, by winning 11 out

73


of the 15 Lok Sabha seats in the Telengana region in

the 1971 elections. Telengana Praja Samithi, and not

the Congress, represented the will of the people of

Telengana. There was lot of semantics as to whether

the result could be considered a referendum in favour

of a separate State, but since both Brahmananda

Reddy and Dr Channa Reddy were Congressmen, this

was considered an internal affair of the Party. The

Opposition parties, such as the CPI, CPI (M),

Swatantra, Krishikar Lok Party of G.Latchanna,

could not derive any political benefit out of this

embarassment for Congress.

The fact he continued in office for a year after the

agitation ended made Brahmananda Reddy defiant,

and he made the mistake of asserting that nobody

could remove him from power. In September of 1971,

K. Vijayabhaskara Reddy, as Finance Minister,

asserted in the Assembly that “no power on earth can

replace Brahmananda Reddy”, adding, as if as an

after thought, “as long as he enjoyed the trust of the

House”. The next day, a call came from Indira

74

Gandhi, and Brahmananda Reddy hurried to Delhi

to submit his resignation! Those days rice was in

short supply throughout South India, and there was

demand for boiled rice in Tamilnadu and Kerala.

Rice transport was prohibited from one State to

another, except with a Government permit.

Brahmananda Reddy issued these permits to a

number of rice millers in East and West Godavari

districts, and collected five rupees per quintal towards

a “Party fund”. He went to Delhi and gave some

money to the Party. Indira Gandhi did not believe his

version, and so she ordered simultaneous raids on

rice millers and rice traders in the three Southern

States on the day Brahmananda Reddy reached

Delhi. She confronted him with the reports.

Brahmananda Reddy sought to explain the

discrepancy by saying he used part of the funds to

build the Party in Andhra Pradesh, which was but an

euphemism for the cash he gave to candidates

contesting the 1971 Lok Sabha elections. But he gave

in and resigned.

There was a festive atmosphere on Vijayadasami Day

75


in 1971 when P.V.Narasimha Rao was sworn in as

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. There was

tremendous relief in the political atmosphere because

Brahmananda Reddy left at the end of more than

seven year term as Chief Minister, and the big

scaffolding of a faction he built up with his followers

at the District and Taluq level collapsed. All the

dissidents in the Congress, who constituted the main

Opposition to the ruling Party, started to return to

the main fold. There was a fund of good will for P.V.

everywhere. But he could not retain it for long.

P.V’s term of office was marked by the domineering

role played by T.Lakshmikantamma, a Member of

Parliament. She was a personal friend, but she

started attending every official meeting that the

Chief Minister held. P.V was also very poor in time

management, he would spend hours with one or two

of his colleagues in gossip, while a 100 others waited

outside to call on the Chief Minister. Further, P.V

suffered from back ache and required to lie down on

a hard surface for relief from pain.

76

A few months after P.V. became Chief Minister,

myself and P.V.R.Sarma of Andhra Patrika went to

the Secretariat to see him. Those days nobody took

an appointment with the Chief Minister, we simply

barged into the CM’s peshi where we had a friend in

Sitapathy, the Security Officer. He used to inform the

Chief Minister on the intercom and we used to walk

in. And so we went into the CM’s chambers.

I distinctly remember that day, because Andhra

Patrika had been publishing reports of the activities

of a group of Ministers from the Andhra region

which showed their misgivings about their future in

the united Andhra Pradesh. P.V. completely ignored

P.V.R.Sarma and spoke to me about maintaining the

unity and integrity of the Telugu speaking people.

That talk was misplaced because we were also for

unity of Telugu people, but the catch was that the

CM wanted us to ignore the news and events

pertaining to the Andhra Ministers in the Cabinet,

because he explained, publication of their point of

view increased tensions and created a divide between

77


the Andhra and Telengana sections and may lead to

division of the State. He in effect wanted us to

report only his side of the story. I explained to him as

best as I could that it would not be possible for any

newspaper which claimed to be independent, to black

out the statements from Andhra Ministers. Sarma

did not say a word, and after about 15 minutes we

came out and Sarma’s only comment was that “he is

in his heart of hearts a separatist. Only outwardly he

talks of unity of Telugu people” How he was able to

come to the conclusion was beyond my

comprehension. Sarma made such comments at the

end of every press conference he covered because he

understood the person very well. “Did you notice the

twinkle in his eye?” Sarma would ask, “that gives him

away”

P.V.Narasimha Rao’s term as Chief Minister was

marked by tension and a feeling of uncertainty. We

saw the separatist Andhra agitation unfold with one

statement after another fuelling the ruffled feelings,

and the Chief Minister watched helplessly as his

78

Cabinet divided on regional lines. After the

separatist Telengana agitation of 1969 and the

replacement of Kasu Brahmananda Reddy as Chief

Minister, P.V. occupied the top post - but only

hesitantly, as if he was unsure of what the Congress

leaders in Delhi wanted him to do. He spent 40 out

of the first 50 days as Chief Minister in Delhi,

constantly seeking advice as to how he should

proceed. He was given a mandate to keep the “Reddy

lobby” in check, but he was afraid to antagonize

powerful Reddy leaders.

In 1972, there were elections to the State Assembly,

and at the instance of Indira Gandhi a host of

important Reddy followers of Brahmananda Reddy

were denied ticket. These powerful people included

Vijayabhaskara Reddy, Seelam Sidda Reddy, Ronda

Narapa Reddy, Kamatam Rami Reddi and

V. Purushotham Reddy. But the exit of

Brahmananda Reddy resulted in the churning of

Congress politics, and opposing factions made up

with each other, resulting in 18 MLAs getting elected

79


without contest, and the Congress winning about 200

seats in the Assembly (out of 294). M.Omkar was

the only CPI (M) candidate to win while the CPI drew

a blank. About 50 Independents won, and most of

them trooped into the Congress fold.

Then the Supreme Court judgment came, upholding

the Mulki rules. PV made his big mistake, by saying

that this gave “finality” to the Mulki issue. This

comment resulted in widespread protests. People

from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions came

to Hyderabad because it was the capital of the united

State of Andhra Pradesh, but in Hyderabad their

children could not seek admission in the Government

Colleges, nor apply for a job in Government service

because these are reserved for “mulkis” that is those

that lived in the Telengana region for atleast 15 years.

The Andhra leaders felt that they were being treated

as second class citizens in Hyderabad. As Chief

Minister, PV should have assuaged their feelings and

clarified their doubts, but he did nothing of that sort.

On the other hand, he promoted the impression that

80

the Andhra leaders were angry with him because he

had the Land Ceiling bill passed by the Assembly, and

that the separatists were out to divide the State. This

argument does not pass muster because the Land

Ceilings acts were passed by all States in the Country,

more or less on the same lines as was done in Andhra

Pradesh.

The State had just seen the end of the separate

Telengana agitation, in which Andhra families were

subjected to humiliation, and a number of families

packed up and went out of Hyderabad. A year later,

the further statements of PV angered the Andhra

leaders and people. One day, there was a Cabinet

meeting and P.V presided over the meeting in the

Cabinet room adjacent to the Chief Minister’s

Chambers in the first floor of the old building. But

the Andhra Ministers did not attend his meeting,

instead they assembled under the leadership of Sagi

Suryanarayaya Raju, the senior most Minister of

Andhra Pradesh, in his chambers in the ground floor

of the same building. The fact that the Cabinet

81


divided was the big news of the day, but PV did not

realise its significance until much later.

The Andhra Ministers decided to write a letter to PV

seeking safeguards in Hyderabad. PV convened

another Cabinet meeting, this time at his residence in

Ananda Nilayam opposite Greenlands Guest House

in Begumpet. (Ananda Nilayam was the official

residence of the Chief Minister, but since

Brahmananda Reddy and PV lost power due to

separatist agitations, the building was considered

unlucky, it was demolished in later years and a

Paryatak Bhavan (Tourist Complex) was constructed

in its place). At the instance of Lakshmikantamma,

a Godman was brought from Amalapuram to

perform pujas on the first floor of the building while

the Cabinet met in the ground floor. The Godman’s

efforts went in vain, and the divisions widened

further.

This signaled the beginning of the separate Andhra

agitation. PV could not cope with it, and he was

unable to tour the Andhra areas fearing a backlash.

82

PV was unable to go to Vijayawada to attend the

funeral of Kakani Venkatarathnam, a senior Andhra

Minister, because the separatist agitators sat on the

runway of the Gannavaram airport to prevent the

Chief Minister’s plane landing there. Non Gazetted

employees went on strike. The Andhra Ministers

then called a meeting of the Andhra MLAs at

Tirupati on December 31 to give a call for a no tax

campaign. B.V.Subba Reddy was the Chairman of

the forum created to achieve a separate Andhra,

while Penchikala Basi Reddy from Pulivendla in

Cuddapah district and Challa Subbarayudu from

Anantapur were the major leaders.

With the divisions in Hyderabad press continuing,

one group which fully supported P.V, took upon itself

the task of demolishing the Dec 31 Tirupati meeting.

The MLAs attendance at Tirupati was solid, but

these journalists whose airfares, taxi fares and hotel

charges were paid by the Government, came to

Tirupati to report that the meeting was a flop

because there were no MLAs present. I went round

83


the Devasthanam choultry where the meeting was

held and reported who was present, the resolutions

they passed, and the exuberant atmosphere in the

venue. The efforts of the pro-PV press to present a

completely distorted picture of the meeting failed,

because of the enormous support of the people.

PV was getting isolated slowly, and the distance

between Indira Gandhi and himself started to grow.

PV was kept in the dark about Indira Gandhi’s plan

to deal with the separatist Andhra agitation. The

Congress constituted a High Power Committee, in the

first week of January, abolishing the Pradesh

Congress Committee, and at its first meeting the

HPC recommended imposition of President’s rule in

the State! PV did not know that such a HPC was

coming, and who would be in it. Only K.Rajamallu

was accommodated in the HPC who could be

considered close to PV. PV was in touch with Sankar

Dayal Sarma who used to come to Andhra Pradesh

as an observer and was assured that there was no

threat to his continuance as Chief Minister. Then on

84

January 8, 1973, PV expanded his Cabinet by taking

eight new Ministers, all “integrationists” such as

Anam Venkata Reddy, R.Rajagopala Reddy and

C.Das. It became difficult for the CM’s office to get

them to Hyderabad because of the agitation. While

the new Ministers were settling down in Lake View

Guest house, the State was brought under President’s

Rule on January 13. PV lost his job, ending a

turbulent period in the State’s history.

Harischandra Sarin, an ICS Officer, came to

Hyderabad to take charge as Advisor to Governor, a

virtual Chief Minister who ran the administration for

11 months. Another ICS Officer, V.K. Rao, was the

Second Advisor, but all power was concentrated in

Sarin’s hands. G.K. Reddy, our Political

Correspondent, correctly predicted in THE HINDU

about Sarin’s choice while the rest of the press

speculated that a Telugu ICS Officer, R.Prasad, was

going to be the Advisor. Sarin brought with him an

official called Mehta, who handled press relations.

Before coming to Hyderabad, Sarin went to

85


G.K.Reddy and asked for tips as to how to deal with

Andhra politicians. G.K.Reddy suggested that he

should see off every politician at the car, and Sarin

followed this advice meticulously. He got on very well

with the politicians of Andhra Pradesh. Sarin’s term

would have been much shorter, but for an incident in

Cuddapah. In March 1973, the Andhra NGOs had a

meeting at the NGO Bhavan in Cuddapah for which

they invited B.V.Subba Reddy and Penchikala Basi

Reddy, the two leaders of separatist Andhra

agitation. It was a meeting organized inside a

private building, but the Collector of the district felt

that it was organised without Police permission, and

he ordered the Police to disburse the NGOs who were

hearing Subba Reddy and Basi Reddy.

The Police made a lathi charge as a peaceful meeting

was in progress inside the NGO building. The

resulting chaos and the injuries to scores of NGOs

was compared to Jalianwala Bagh, because Police

entered through the only door to the small hall and

blocked it, and the NGOs who were beaten up had no

86

chance of escape. With great presence of mind, the

NGOs brought Subba Reddy and Basi Reddi out of

the building by making them scale the compound

wall and thus saved the septugenarian leaders from

injuries. This incident sparked a fresh wave of

protests, and ignited the separatist agitation again,

after it quietened at the end of P.V.Narasimha Rao’s

departure.

I used to call on Sarin once in a while. He occupied

the Lake View Guest house. He consulted several

senior leaders as to how to correct the mistake. He

informally sent messages to the leaders of the

Separate Andhra agitation and the NGOs requesting

them not to precipitate a crisis, and that he would

make amends for the Cuddapah incident. The

agitation, which was about to peter out in February,

dragged on till August but people seemed to have

settled down to a colourless President’s Rule in the

State, which was better than living under a popular

Government with the separate Andhra and separate

Telengana agitations.

87


It was indeed an honour to me when Jalagam Vengal

Rao, the fifth Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh,

gave me the first copy of his autobiography on

August 21, 1996. We were called for a press

conference, and Vengal Rao suddenly asked me to sit

beside him, and gave me the book “Naa Jeevita

Katha” (My Life’s story), saying: “I am formally

releasing my book by presenting the first copy to

Rajendra Prasad” .

Vengal Rao was a successful Chief Minister, having

risen from the ranks in the Congress politics. He was

born in north Coastal Andhra, but went to school at

Gannavaram in Krishna district, and after his

marriage, settled at Penuballi in Khammam district

and became Khammam Zilla Parishad Chairman in

the 1967. Like many of Congress stalwarts, Vengal

Rao also was very friendly towards his followers but

vindictive towards his opponents. His success as

Chief Minister from December 1973 to March 1978

was partly due to his common sense and partly due

to the Emergency.

Jalagam Vengal Rao

88

Vengal Rao had the rare trait of being punctual

would leave his house in Dwarakapuri Colony near

Panjagutta at exactly 8.30 am, and reach secretariat.

He would first call in the Chief Secretary, (first Rao

Saheb Krishnaswamy and later S.R.Rama Murthy),

and get himsef apprised of latest developments. The

next visitor usually was the Inspector General of

Police (Intelligence). Then only other officers and

politicians would follow.

There used to be only nine or 10 reporters covering

his press conference, usually held in his chambers,

and at the end of five minutes of questions, Vengal

Rao would laugh and say “all of you now go, before

you could extract some more information from me”

He knew each of us by name, and sometimes he

would ask: “Why ask such questions at this stage? I

will give you all the information in two or three days’

time” He was quite friendly with the press.

As Chief Minister and later as Union Minister

between 1985-89, Vengal Rao liked me and Inaganti

Venkata Rao of Andhra Jyothi. Whether he was in

89


or out of power, we used to call on him regularly. In

1976, when THE HINDU edition was being launched

at Hyderabad, Kasturi and me went to Vengal Rao

and told him we chose a plot of land on the

Greenlands Public Road, about half an acre in extent,

which would be suitable for our press. Vengal Rao

wished Kasturi good luck, and advised him to think

of another edition at Visakhapatnam along with

Hyderabad. Kasturi thanked him, but said that the

plot we selected was listed in the Master plan as a

“residential” area, and this would have to be

converted into an “Industrial area” to enable THE

HINDU to print there. “That will not be a problem.

Go ahead with your civil works, and the change of

the plot to industrial use will come about in course of

time”, Vengal Rao said. He kept his promise and

gave the necessary notification. Our Visakhapatnam

edition finally came up only in 1991. Vengal Rao was

Chief Guest at the function for the launch of THE

HINDU’s Hyderabad edition in September, 1976,

while the actual launch was done by R.D.Bhandare,

Governor.

90

We made elaborate preparations for the launch of

our edition, with a big shamiana in the office

compound, and we prepared for a high tea to be

hosted to our guests who were carefully selected from

various walks of life. Kasturi was very meticulous in

these things. We had G.K.Reddy, our political

correspondent in Delhi, K.S.Shelvankar, a former

London Correspondent of THE HINDU who later

served as an Ambassador to the Soviet Union and

Vietnam, and a large number of bureau chiefs from

various parts of the Country attending the function.

At about 4 pm, while we were busy with the

preparations, a big rain lashed the town, and the

shamiana collapsed. There was one foot water in our

compound.

The rain stopped around 4.30 pm. There was hardly

30 minutes for us to make alternate arrangements for

the function. We immediately shifted the venue to

inside the office, and arranged chairs for the guests.

All staff, including Kasturi, G.K.Reddy, and

Shelvankar, preferred to stand. At the function,

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Vengal Rao paid tributes to the role played by THE

HINDU in the freedom struggle, and to the paper’s

commitment to objectivity in its coverage. I had the

privilege of proposing a vote of thanks. After the

function, the Governor and the VIPs were taken to the

printing press where the Governor formally pressed

the button to print our Sunday Magazine section.

The rotary started well but soon the paper got into

the conveyor, became a pulp, and the press stopped as

the pulp acted as a drag. G.K.Reddy suggested that

tea be served to the guests while they waited for the

press to re-run. Finally after a delay of 30 minutes,

the Sunday Magazine came out and we all heaved a

sigh of relief.

Vengal Rao was an outspoken person and he was

endowed with good commonsense. Though he only

completed his schooling, he was regarded as a good

administrator and was frequently compared to

Kamaraj. He became Chief Minister at the end of

the President’s Rule in December, 1973. Dr Channa

Reddy was opposed to him, and proposed the name

92

of a former Chief Minister, Damodaram Sanjivayya,

but when Reddy called on Indira Gandhi during the

transition, she said: “I had two names in 1971,

P.V.Narasimha Rao’s and Vengal Rao’s. You

opposed Vengal Rao’s name then, and we chose P.V.

Now, I have only one name for consideration. You

please accept Vengal Rao”. Vengal Rao came to

power at the end of the seperate Andhra agitation.

When Dr Shankar Dayal Sarma arrived in

Hyderabad to chose a consensus candidate, all the

Andhra MLAs told him “anyone but Vengal Rao”,

but such was the Consensus politics in Congress that

Vengal Rao was declared the unanimous choice.

His term in office was marked by the World Telugu

Conference organised on a grand scale at

Hyderabad, to offset the effect of the two separatist

agitations. Vengal Rao picked up officers for

postings based on their initiative and drive. When he

went on tour, he would first call the District Collector

and talk to him about the problems he faced in the

district, then only he called the politicians. Then in

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1975, the Emergency came, but Vengal Rao softened

the impact of Emergency in Andhra Pradesh.

With Emergency came censorship. At first, District

Collectors were designated as Censoring Officers,

and the officer at Vijayawada went to such an extent,

he would not approve of reports in THE INDIAN

EXPRESS even though the Censor at Delhi had

cleared it. Whole items were lifted out of the paper

by the Censor, who harassed the paper by approving

the copy only at 2 am, to disrupt their network of

distribution. All of us Chiefs of Bureau went in

delegation to the Chief Minister and complained to

him about this behavior. Vengal Rao understood the

plight of the press, and he immediately made an

Assistant Director of Information as a Censor officer,

which solved the problem.

On November 19, 1977, there was a mighty tidal

wave disaster at Divi in Krishna district, which took a

toll of 10,000. Vengal Rao was in Delhi when the

tidal wave struck, but a day later he was back in

Krishna and Guntur districts to see the devastation.

94

“This is a tragedy beyond comparison”, he said, “We

have to gear up our entire resources to render

assistance”.

Vengal Rao did the job well, but his critics were not

satisfied. They complained about his being away

from the State when the calamity struck. Also, the

commander of the Southern Command of the Armed

Forces was in Puttaparthi and was not available for

contact while the Chief Secretary was out of station.

The Janata had come to power, and Vengal Rao was

hammered. But Morarji Desai brushed aside

demand for dismissal of Vengal Rao’s Government.

We were present at the airport as Morarji Desai

came out of the special aircraft, and a large number

of Janata MLAs and activists surrounded, shouting

that Vengal Rao should go and the State placed

under President’s Rule. Morarji Desai simply walked

past this crowd, saying that “it is not as easy as you

think”. Morarji did not accept an official’s figure of

9,987 for the death toll. “How can you be so precise?

I can accept if you say there were 10,000 deaths or

9,000 deaths” he said.

95


Vengal Rao noticed that it was necessary to present

the nation a true picture of the devastation, because

death tolls published varied from one lakh to 10,000

and an issue was made of dead bodies lying in the

villages. A friendly and competent officer from the

Information Department, C.V.Narasimha Reddy, was

brought to the CM”s office to deal with the press,

and he took the press into confidence by daily issuing

statements about the actual state of the relief

operations. Vengal Rao drafted the workmen from

Singareni Colleries to burn the dead bodies.

Then the Congress split in December, 1977 when

Indira Gandhi launched the Congress (I). Vengal

Rao made a wrong choice, when he led his group to

contest on the Congress (Reddy) ticket and lost the

elections. He was in touch with Charan Singh, the

Union Home Minister, and thought Indira Gandhi

would not rise again if she were to be arrested. He

lost the 1978 elections to the Assembly without a

contest, because his group contesting under the

Congress (R) tickets could win only 39 seats out of

96

the 294. Vengal Rao was forced to spend a week at

his Sattupalli constituency, where a poet, Kaloji

Narayana Rao, contested against him as an

Independent candidate, with civil liberties groups

singing songs in his constituency about the fake

encounters in which the Police killed naxalites of

Srikakulam. Though he won from Sattupalli ,

resigned his seat in the Assembly and encouraged all

the others who won on the Congress (R) ticket to

migrate to Congress (I). Dr. Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy,

who became Chief Minister in 2004, was one of those

who went to the Congress (I) this way.

The Janata Government instituted two Commissions

of enquiry against Vengal Rao, ,but the Commission,

instituted to enquire into fake encounters, was a non-

starter. P. Shivshankar, who appeared for Vengal

Rao before the Commission, insisted that these

should be taken up in serial order while the Civil

Liberties groups wanted only some encounters to be

investigated, and they brought a list. The second

Commission found fault with Vengal Rao for

97


creating a helipad for Sanjay Gandhi’s helicopter to

land in Kothagudam, though he held no official

position. After the Commission’s findings came out,

Vengal Rao announced his retirement from politics.

Vengal Rao came back to politics again in February

1984 while N.T.Rama Rao was Chief Minister, and

scripted Nadendla Bhaskara Rao’s backstabbing

episode during August, 1984. Vengal Rao however

played an active role after Rajiv Gandhi became

Prime Minister, towards the end of 1984, convincing

him that he was the only Congress leader capable of

fighting NTR. He became President of Andhra

Pradesh Congress Committee, and the next step was

to become Union Industries Minister. He initiated a

vicious campaign against NTR, saying he can kick

“NTR like a football, and he will fall in Madras” As

Union Minister from 1985 to 1989, his only job was

to keep NTR pinned down to Andhra Pradesh and

not play a major role in uniting the Opposition

against the Congress.

98

One day, Vengal Rao called me and gave me a note

prepared by the Income Tax department, supposed to

be a list of violations of the law committed by

Ramoji Rao, Editor of EENADU Telugu newspaper.

“I do not expect you to report these things but you

should know the background. Local Congressmen

say that I have done nothing to build the Party during

the past three years that I headed the Pradesh

Congress Committee. But I have successfully tied

down N.T.Rama Rao in several court cases and

pinned him down to Hyderabad. Otherwise, he

would have started Bharatha Desam or tried to unite

Opposition parties and groups. We have to strike at

Ramoji Rao also because he is the principal

supporter of NTR in the State. We are going to

shortly launch 16 or 17 prosecutions against Ramoji

Rao”.

Nothing much came out of these prosecutions,

because Ramoji Rao asserted that these prosecutions

were launched to harass him for supporting NTR,

and that they were of a frivolous nature. A total of

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19 prosecutions were launched in the entire Country

from April to December 1987, while in respect of

Eenadu group alone, 24 prosecutions were launched

between March and July 1988, which established the

malafide intention of the Government. The counsel

for Ramoji Rao said that the charges were of a

baseless nature, the maximum punishment being

fines ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 2,000.

One day when I went to see him in the morning, he

asked me what was going on in Hyderabad. I told

him that the Chief Minister, N.T.Rama Rao, was

organising a workshop on collection of taxes the next

day, and that the Chairman of the Central Board of

Direct Taxes was coming. “How can he come?’

Vengal Rao asked, “NTR is a tax defaulter”. So

saying, he spoke to Delhi and had the official’s visit

to Hyderabad cancelled.

Once, he became angry with me for a report I wrote

suggesting that the Telugu Desam candidate,

Chekuri Kasiah, might get an edge in the election to

the Chairman of Khammam Zilla Parishad because

100

NTR was touring the district on the last day of the

campaign. Vengal Rao’s son, Prasada Rao, was

pitted against him as the Congress (I) candidate.

“How will Kasiah get any advantage even after

NTR’s tour” Vengal Rao asked, “people of

Khammam know Kasiah inside out, there is not a

single party in which he did not function”. Later,

when counting of votes was taking place, and Kasiah

established a comfortable lead, Vengal Rao

telephoned. “I am not getting any information from

Khammam. What is your information?” he asked. I

realised that his son, who was in Khammam, was

avoiding telling him about his impending defeat. I

decided to tell him what we get from our Khammam

correspondent, that Kasiah had established a

commanding lead of 20,000 votes and was sure to

win. Vengal Rao did not make any comment and

hung up, saying “that is alright”.

Vengal Rao wrote in his autobiography that “it was

the misfortune of the nation that a person like

Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister. He was

101


Chief Minister for one and half years, but only in

name, because he was at the beck and call of

Lakshmikantamma, an MP”. Vengal Rao wrote that

Vijayabhaskara Reddy was a “stubborn person, who

did not know how to talk in politics”. Vengal Rao

regretted the fact that his prediction about

Vijayabhaskara Reddy handing over power to

N.T.Rama Rao in 1994 elections “on a golden

platter”, had come true, after doing so in a silver

platter in 1983. On both occasions, Vijayabhaskara

Reddy was Chief Minister, who handed over power to

NTR. About Brahmananda Reddy, Vengal Rao

wrote about the rice scandal in which lot of money

was collected by Brahmananda Reddy, how his

reputation was in shambles after Reddy was forced to

give all that money to the AICC. “After this incident,

Damodaram Sanjivayya who was AICC President

then, telephoned to me one day and said that

Congress Working Committee was deciding to

remove Brahmananda Reddy and asked me to listen

to the 9 pm news bulletin. This was the first headline

that night. But Reddy did not know about it and was

102

enjoying himself at a cultural programme”, Vengal

Rao wrote.

It was unfortunate that Vengal Rao was forced to

withdraw his book from circulation because of a

threatened legal action against him. He had

mentioned about Justice Shah of Allahabad High

Court unseating Indira Gandhi’s election that led to

the imposition of Emergency. Vengal Rao wrote only

what he believed to be the truth, but the Judge , who

retired from service, took offence at the way the

scrappy reports about the book pictured the event, on

which Justice Shah formed his judgment. The Judge

criticised Vengal Rao for not revealing the name of

the person who made the statement, and to whom the

letter was sent, but in his book, Vengal Rao identified

the letter writer as M.V.S.Subbaraju, MLA, and that

the letter was written to Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, the

future President. In his letter Subba Raju predicted

Indira Gandhi’s election getting annulled. Vengal

Rao wrote that when the Inspector General of Police

(Intelligence), K.Vijayarama Rao, brought him the

post card, he had it sent to the Director of Central

103


Bureau of Investigation, asking the officer to bring it

to the notice of the Prime Minister, but the officer did

not act. When the final judgment, setting aside

Indira Gandhi’s election came, Vengal Rao said he

was in Delhi and told Indira Gandhi about the letter,

that she called the CBI man and admonished him for

failing to pass it on to her.

Vengal Rao died a disappointed man. He used to sit

alone in his house, looking vacantly into the ceiling

when I used to go and meet him. He would talk

cordially with me, asking about details of events in

which he was interested. He went twice to Kerala

and Bangalore to reduce his weight because he

became obese towards the end of his life. He felt

lonely since the death of his wife, Mangayamma.

When she suffered a heart attack, Vengal Rao was

Chief Minister, and he would come and spend an

hour at the Osmania General Hospital, during the

treatment, sitting in the Superintendent’s room. The

Hospital Superintendent’s Office functioned those

days as the Chief Minister’s Office.

104

He had two sons, Jalagam Prasada Rao and

Jalagam Venkat Rao. The elder one served as an

MLA and Minister and went in adoption to Captain

Jalagam Rama Rao, Vengal Rao’s brother who

served in the Indian Navy, and later set up a plant to

produce palm oil in Chirala and Integrated Circuits

in Hyderabad. When Vengal Rao died, the last rites

were performed by the younger son, Venkata Rao.

Vengal Rao admired Sardar Vallabhai Patel, and

dedicated his book to the Sardar. He admired Patel

for the role he played in integrating the old

Hyderabad State into the Indian Union, and for the

Police action in liberating the Nizam’s Hyderabad.

He had always with him a copy of Sardar Patel’s

speeches which he read frequently. The politicians

of his generation were men of clay, he would say,

asserting that Sardar Patel, Nehru and Mahatma

Gandhi were the real heroes.

105


While Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy as Chief Minister

twice handed over power to Telugu Desam, first in

1983 and then in 1994, Dr Marri Channa Reddy

twice brought the Congress (I) to power as APCC

President. On March 6, 1978, Dr Channa Reddy

became Chief Minister after Vengal Rao’s defeat,

and again in September, 1989, he became Chief

Minister after NTR lost power in the general

election.

Dr Channa Reddy’s first term as Chief Minister was

marked by intense dissident activity and his

innovative ideas in administration. He changed

timings of Government offices from 7.30 am to 1.30

pm, on the ground employees would be fresh in the

mornings and would work with greater efficiency,

raised the age of retirement of Government servants

from 55 years to 58 and announced a new syllabus

with the ideas of Puttaparthi Sri Saibaba for schools.

The new office timings did not work, they were in

force for four months only, and in October, 1979, they

were revised to 9.30 am to 5 pm. The new school

Dr Channa Reddy’s two terms asChief Minister

106

syllabus was given up following opposition from

teachers organisations. As soon as he became the

Chief Minister, he announced that his oral orders

should be treated as Government Orders, and we saw

the unique spectacle of District Collectors sitting in a

corner at the CM’s public meetings and taking down

copious notes of all he was saying, because the Chief

Minister would ask for “a report with in 24 hours”

and since this was a GO, they have to comply with it.

But after some time the novelty was lost and everyone

forgot about this new rule.

Dr Channa Reddy occupied the Greenlands Guest

House and proclaimed it as the Chief Minister’s

official residence. He would sit in his room

surrounded by his favourite followers, joking,

laughing, and discussing, oblivious of the time flying

by. The big halls and spacious lawns were always full

of people who wanted to see him and officers whom

he sent for. If the Chief Secretary and a Deputy

Secretary were waiting in the hall, Dr Channa Reddy

would first call the Deputy Secretary in, to spite the

107


Chief Secretary. People had to enter their names in a

register if they wanted to see him, and the Chief

Minister would tick the names of those he wished to

see. “People want to see me for the fun of it”, he

would say later, “One gentleman said he was going

to Bombay and wanted to inform me of the fact.

What does it matter to me whether he goes to

Bombay or London”, the Chief Minister said. “I

think people would come to inform me that their

cycle had a puncture” he laughed.

As a leader who organised a massive public agitation

for separate Telengana for one year, Dr Channa

Reddy was expected to deal with public agitations

with a firm hand. But his term of office was marked

by a series of communal incidents which he could not

control. Within three weeks of his becoming Chief

Minister, there was an incident in which Rameeza Bee

was raped and her husband was beaten to death in

the Adikmet Police station, resulting in a mass

violence. Police opened fire at 11 places on one day in

Hyderabad when the City observed a bandh, killing

108

nine people and injuring 80. Dr Channa Reddy said

that Rameeza Bee was a woman of “doubtful

character”, as if that made the rape a less serious

offence. This was followed by a communal violence

in Sabzimandi area, when it was placed under curfew

after two people were killed in mob violence.

He believed in astrology and vasthu and paid

obeisance to a number of gurus and holy men. He

called on the Sathya Sri Saibaba of Puttaparthi

before the elections, and was told he was coming to

power. This gave him enormous self confidence. He

confidently asserted that his party would win 175

seats (out of 294) and it did! One local baba gave

him a stick which he carried for the rest of his life,

and people called it a magic wand. The advisors

convinced him that the communal incidents were due

to the “bad vasthu” of Greenlands, and so he shifted

his residence to his own home in Taranaka. But the

communal violence and political problems continued

to haunt him, as long as he was Chief Minister.

Asked why his term was turbulent, he said that

109


wherever he was, there was a storm around him. In

1978 when Dr Channa Reddy became Chief Minister,

Indira Gandhi was out of power at the Centre, and

the All India Congress (I) Committee depended upon

the Congress (I) Governments in Andhra Pradesh and

Karnataka for its financial sustenance. Dr Channa

Reddy regularly used to send money to Delhi, but this

became bazaar talk in Hyderabad, and he got a bad

name. The bad image was attributed to the “bad”

press that Channa Reddy got, and several people

came on the scene to “manage” the press. These

included Sarojini Pulla Reddy, a Minister, who one

day turned up at the Press Room at Secretariat, was

surprised that the reporters had to buy coffee at the

canteen, and ordered that a sumptuous spread be laid

out for the journalists as they came to report the

Secretariat beat. The regulars did not much fancy

this, but lot of journalists with accreditations but no

paper to report benefited by her generosity.

One day, a man turned up from Sunday magazine, to

write an article on Dr Channa Reddy. The followers

110

of Dr Reddy came to know of this, and they wanted

to show the Chief Minister how a little attention

could make a big difference. The man was treated

as a State Guest and put up in the Lake View Guest

House, an officer of Information Department was

attached to him, and a car was placed at his

disposal. The Chief Minister granted him a personal

interview. The man, who spent two days traveling in

auto rickshaws, spent four days in luxury sight

seeing. We were told that an adulatory article would

appear in Sunday.

The issue came out with Dr Reddy on the cover, with

the caption: “Channa Reddy: The Most Corrupt

CM?”. The author wrote that he took an

autorickshaw to go to a middle class hotel from the

airport, but the driver demanded five rupees more

than the meter reading as he had to pay “a

commission to the CM!” Dr Reddy’s followers cut a

sorry figure. Then they focused their attention on

the local newspapers. One contractor gave Rs 15,000

to three people to manage the local press, and placed

111


a car at their disposal. This came to light quite

accidentally while T.Anjiah was Chief Minister, and

as Minister for Irrigation, G.V.Sudhakara Rao placed

the contractor’s letter in the Assembly. The

contractor wrote to Dr Reddy that he spent lot of

money on erecting banners for his tours, paid money

to manage the press, but the Chief Minister was not

granting him an interview. The names of the three

people who received the money was not revealed.

Dr Channa Reddy was a strict person, and wanted to

enforce discipline in the Party and Government. One

fine morning, he stripped the portfolios of two of his

Ministers, M.Manick Rao and Kandula Obul Reddy,

the first for going, without his permission, to

Moscow on a peace delegation and the other for

going to Kerala for ayurvedic treatment. He restored

their portfolios later, after they met him and

apologised. A dissident group in the Congress

already was working against Dr Reddy with

encouragement from Sanjay Gandhi who was then a

power to reckon with.

112

There was a turning point in Dr Reddy’s life, when he

survived a plane accident in December, 1979. He was

going to Delhi, when the plane after take off,

suddenly lost its height, and crashed near the end of

the runway. Dr Channa Reddy was shaken by this

experience. But he managed to somehow jump out of

the aircraft and his followers stopped private cars on

Trimulgery road and sent him home. Soon a crowd

gathered on the runway, attracted by 100 rupee

bundles strewn all over the place, as one of the

suitcase carried by a passenger opened. People

snatched the bundles and vanished from the scene

until the Police came and cordoned off the area. The

Indian Airlines later advertised inviting the passenger

to identify the suitcase and claim whatever cash was

left, but nobody turned up.

Dr Channa Reddy saw the accident as a divine sign,

and felt that he should show his gratitude to the

divine power. He was saved because he had some

task to finish. He proclaimed that he was dedicating

his life to the service of the poor. But in January,

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1980, he celebrated his shastipoorthi with a series of

grand functions to propitiate the Gods for his second

life, with a tulabharam in his native village of Pedda

Mangalaram in Ranga Reddy district, where he was

weighed against one rupee coins. This was followed

by a second tulabharam in Hyderabad and a third in

Eluru. At each of these functions, the garlanding

alone went on for over an hour. All this attracted

public criticism, as people did not approve such

display of grandeur, and the Delhi telephone lines

were kept busy as the dissidents in the party informed

the Central leaders of the “style of functioning” of

the Chief Minister.

Those days, G. Rajaram, the Minister for Finance,

was the dissident leader and a number of Ministers

and MLAs met at his residence in Himayatnagar

daily to chalk out a strategy to oust Dr Reddy. They

were constantly in touch with Delhi. One day in May

1980, the personal staff of the Chief Minister opened

a box of sweets given by a visitor and distributed

sweets among themselves and a few MLAs present,

114

including a R.M.Manohar. This Manohar called

himself a “Brigadier” Manohar, head of the “Indira

Brigade”, and he had the distinction of winning from

Achampet in Mahbubnagar district, even without

visiting the constituency, due to the Indira wave.

About half an hour later, there was a flash on the

Press Trust of India teleprinter announcing the death

of Sanjay Gandhi in a flying accident in Delhi! Soon

Police blocked all seats on the Indian Airlines flight to

Delhi to enable Congress leaders to go for the

funeral.

Manohar, who went to Delhi, told Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi that Channa Reddy distributed sweets

to celebrate Sanjay Gandhi’s death! Obviously this

made a deep impression on her, because within two

days, dissident Ministers in Hyderabad got the signal

to step up their campaign against Channa Reddy.

The dissident MLAs showed their strength to the

press at the official residence of Obul Reddy in

Khairatabad. Channa Reddy knew that his time was

up, but he put on a brave face, and dismissed the

dissident activity as of no consequence.

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In June, every one was convinced that a new CM was

going to take charge, but the question was when.

T.Anjiah was chosen as successor, but he made the

mistake of revealing this to some of his friends, who

came to his house in Delhi with big garlands in front

of TV cameras. The madam was angry and delayed

the announcement. The political atmosphere became

heavy. G. Rajaram described this as the period spent

by a family with the dead body in the verandah of

the house waiting for the son’s arrival to perform the

last rites. This period, in Dr Channa Reddy’s case,

prolonged to about three months.

One day Dr Channa Reddy returned from Delhi and

met the press at the airport. One journalist, Narisetti

Inniah, asked whether an officer of Central

Intelligence conveyed any message to him inside the

aircraft. This question completely put out Dr

Channa Reddy, and he repeatedly asked the

journalist to explain, or say what he knew. “You give

me the message, I will take it from you”, Dr Reddy

said. As we came to know later, Dr Channa Reddy

116

wanted to announce his resignation at the airport,

and go to the Raj Bhavan and submit his letter. But

after he got into the aircraft, someone in Delhi had

second thoughts, and so, after the plane landed in

Hyderabad, a CIO met the Chief Minister on board

the aircraft and told him: “Don’t meet the press,

don’t go to Raj Bhavan”.

One day in his usual durbar, some one mooted the

proposal to create a rift in the dissident camp. As

part of this proposal, a manager from Deccan

Chronicle met Rajaram and talked to him about his

chances of succeeding Dr Channa Reddy. Rajaram

kept an open house, and he offered a cup of tea to

whoever came to him and talked. That evening,

M.M.Hashim, the Home Minister, telephoned to

Rajaram and told him that he had fallen into a trap,

and his interview was sure to divide the dissident

camp! Rajaram said he gave no interview to Deccan

Chronicle. “Arre, I have seen it with my own eyes, the

galley proof they brought from the press and it is sure

to put you in a hole”, Hashim said. Rajaram checked

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with his staff and made sure no reporter from

Chronicle met him that day. Later in the night, he

talked to an Editor in charge at Deccan Chronicle

and told him a fabricated interview was going to be

published, and if it appeared in print, there would be

serious consequences. The Editor-in charge saw the

Reporters’ file but there was nothing, but later he was

shown the galley proof of an interview nobody knew

who did. The Editor in charge, who could not

imagine a Manager would have done the interview,

removed the story from the page. Next day it was the

turn of M.M.Hashim and Channa Reddy’s camp to

be surprised, and the aborted interview became the

talk of the town.

Dr Channa Reddy misjudged the power behind the

dissidents. He thought it was the two Central

Ministers from Andhra Pradesh, and would say: “I

will wait till a new man takes over from me here, and

the game they played against me, I can also play

against them”. But Dr Channa Reddy did not get to

play the role of a dissident leader, for he went as

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Governor to several States like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab,

Rajasthan and Tamilnadu.

He was a bitterly disappointed man while leaving

office. He was convinced that the press was biased

against him. He said he wanted all the press

clippings placed before an independent Judge and a

verdict given whether the coverage was objective. He

served the State as Chief Minister for two and half

years, from March, 1978 to September, 1980.

His second term as Chief Minister, from November

1989 to December 1990, was marked by the most

serious communal clashes that Hyderabad witnessed,

in which 75 people were killed, the old City of

Hyderabad was handed over to the Army, and an

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Sattiah, was killed

by a Muslim constable sitting in his own jeep. Also,

his health suffered a set back, and he went to the

United States for a kidney transplant and eye surgery.

Dr Channa Reddy assumed office before a big crowd

in Nizam College grounds, in the tradition set up by

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N.T.Rama Rao, who took his oath of office in Lal

Bahadur Sdtadium in 1983. Dr Reddy’s first

announcement was to withdraw the rule, introduced

by NTR earlier, making the wearing of helmets

compulsory for scooter drivers! Soon, the Peoples

War naxalites abducted Mandava Venkateswara

Rao, a Telugu Desam MLA from Nizamabad

district, and his wife went on a fast, demanding her

husband’s release. The naxalites came up with a

bargain, demanding release of PW prisoners in jail

for freedom for the Telugu Desam MLA. Dr Channa

Reddy went a step further, and released all Naxalite

prisoners in jail, so that there would be no more

abductions! He also announced a Rs 65 crore remote

area development project to counter the Naxalite

violence.

His son, Ravinder Reddy, donated the kidney for his

father, and the surgery was performed in the U.S. Dr

S.Gopalkishan, Professor of Nephrology in Osmania

General Hospital, went with the Chief Minister to

oversee the surgery. Dr Channa Reddy was 70 years

120

old at that time, but he withstood the surgery very

well. He ran the State administration from the US,

and maintained that he had such a grip on the

Government set up that his presence in Hyderabad

was not required. He was however irked by the fact

that his Minister for Health, N. Srinivasulu Reddy,

issued daily health bulletins, which got him adverse

publicity. He stripped him of the portfolio.

When Dr Channa Reddy returned from the U.S, the

Ministers in his cabinet were in a dilemma. They

wanted to go to Delhi and greet the Chief Minister,

who they knew, was very particular in these gestures,

but Rajiv Gandhi, as a former Prime Minister, was

touring the flood affected areas of the State. As if to

embarrass the Ministers, Rajiv Gandhi extended his

tour of the districts by one day. About a dozen

Ministers accompanied Rajiv Gandhi in this tour, but

all but one, V.Hanumantha Rao, deserted the

Congress (I) President and went to Delhi to greet Dr

Channa Reddy. Hanumantha Rao checked air

timings and told his colleagues that they could be

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with Rajiv Gandhi till the end, and still receive Dr

Channa Reddy when he returns, but they would not

listen. Rajiv Gandhi got a rude shock because he saw

the Andhra Ministers showing that they cared more

for Dr Channa Reddy in power, than they cared for

Rajiv Gandhi out of power.

The communal vilolence began on December 7, 1990

with stabbings, and the toll rose to 47 by the next day.

Twenty five people were fatally stabbed in two hours

from 7 pm. Police opened fire at 11 places in the old

City areas of Hyderabad, and Dr Channa Reddy,

who visited the affected areas, could not proceed

because of continuing violence. The disturbance was

a sequel to the attack on Majid Khan, a Majlis

Ittehadul Muslimeen worker, who was injured in the

attack, but the main accused, a Ramesh, was killed

in retalliation. On Dec 9, the old city areas were

handed over to the Army, for the first time in

Hyderabad, because Police were unable to enforce

curfew and armed gangs freely roamed the streets.

Dr Channa Reddy saw a pattern in the violence, and

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he had information that gangs from Vijayawada

were requisitioned by Congress MLAs to create and

sustain communal violence in order to force him out

of power. Violence continued unabated for the next

five days.

On Dec 12, Dr Channa Reddy went to the Osmania

General Hospital and saw a one year old baby

stabbed in the stomach. This sight moved him, and

he became introspective. In the night, he told his

regular group of followers that he will resign as Chief

Minister. “They are doing all this just to send me

out! I will oblige them and save some lives”, he told

them. He actually resigned on December 16, keeping

in view astrological considerations. The Congress

Legislature Party meeting to elect a new leader was

called, not by Dr Channa Reddy, the outgoing leader,

but by V.Hanumantha Rao, the APCC President. Dr

Reddy sent his letter of resignation to the Governor

through a messenger at night.

While going out of office, Dr Channa Reddy lacked

grace, and he filled up the posts of chairmen of 22

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corporations at the very last minute. One person,

appointed Chairman of Tirumala Tirupati

Devasthanam, came to the Secretariat on a Second

Saturday, a holiday, picked up the typewriter from a

General Administration Department, took it to the

house of a Section Officer who had to type the order,

got it signed, and went to Tirupati on a Sunday to

assume charge. In the confusion, one G.

Sathyanarayana of Secunderabad took charge as a

trustee before the deity, while another

Sathyanarayana, a tax consultant, was nominated,

and it took a lot of effort to persuade the wrong

Sathyanarayana to resign!

124

One day in 1985, I was quietly working on an article

in my office when there was a call from the Secretary

to the Governor, V.Chandramowli, IAS. He asked me

whether I could come down to the Raj Bhavan “for a

good story”. I immediately went. He gave a sheaf of

papers which he said was the text of the Governor, Dr

Shankar Dayal Sharma’s, speech at the Governors

Conference held in Delhi a few days ago. The news

was that the Governor made critical references to the

Telugu Desam Government.

Chandramowli put only one condition - that he

should not be identified as the source of the story. I

returned to office and talked to my Editor, Kasturi,

and told him about the Governor’s speech. He asked

me only one question - was the officer dependable? I

said yes. And so it was that next day we published a

five column report titled “A.P.Governor hits out at

Govt”. The Governor’s theme was that a regional

party which comes to power always makes some

noise for a larger share of central resources, but it

does not share Plan resources equitably with

News Behind News

125


panchayat raj bodies. If this attitude continues, there

is likely to be upsurge of popular sentiments,

demanding that zilla parishads, panchayat raj and

other local bodies be directly monitored by Central

Government to avoid diversion of funds. Dr Sharma

also wanted Governors to send confidential reports

on all-India service officers to the President, in the

case of undue harassment of such officers on political

grounds.

The next morning, July 10, 1985, I first got a call

from U.B.Raghavendra Rao, Principal Secretary to

Chief Minister, asking whether the story was true.

He was one of the finest officers in the IAS, known

for excellent clarity of thought, and he was a friend.

I told him that I got the sheaf of papers from

Chandramowli himself who asked for its publication.

Then Chief Minister N.T.Rama Rao, deputed an

Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) to go to the

Governor and get the copy of the speech.

Chandramowli was on the line next, asking for the

text of the speech to be returned to him as the

126

Governor was asking for it!. I told him I will give it

back to him on my way to the office at 10.30 am, but

the officer was in a hurry, and offered to send a

messenger in a car to get the copy. It was 8 am, but I

told him I have some work to do and that I will give

the copy by 9 am. I went to a xerox centre and took a

copy of the speech, and went to Raj Bhavan to hand

over the copy to Chandramowli. He said that his job

was at stake, and the Governor did not like the way

the speech was reported, and he wanted the speech to

be mentioned only in a Sunday column I used to write

those days. I told him that my job also was at stake,

and suggested to him to give me a letter saying that

he himself gave the copy of the speech to me, and I

promised to show that letter to no one except the

Editor. He agreed to do so. But he never kept that

promise.

The Governor’s retraction came in the course of the

day, and I immediately sent it to Editor for his

approval. I asked Editor’s permission to make a

point which could be published along with the

127


retraction, and he approved. So along with the

Governor’s retraction, we published the following:

“Our Correspondent writes: The text of the

Governor’s speech at the Delhi conference last week

was made available to THE HINDU by

unimpeachable sources which said the Governor

himself had authorised its publication”.

The first call I received the next morning was from

NTR: “You have courageously published the

Governor’s speech and today you have stood by your

report. THE HINDU is really a great paper”.

On July 11, there was a conference at the Jubilee

Hall, in which the Chief Minister discussed the

demand of Rayalaseema Congress MLAs, including

Dr Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy (who later became Chief

Minister in 2004), Dr M.V.Mysura Reddy,

J.C.Diwakara Reddy among others, that the Krishna

water for Telugu Ganga project should be

apportioned from the “assured” share of the Krishna

waters for Andhra Pradesh. The catch was that the

800 TMC assured waters share was already equitably

128

distributed among existing projects, and the

Government showed the allocation of 29 TMC

Krishna water for Telugu Ganga from the “surplus”

in Krishna River. The Congress MLAs wanted to

push the Telugu Desam Government into a trap, to

force NTR to cut the allocation for Krishna delta to

accommodate the Telugu Ganga share.

After the meeting there was the press conference in

which some reporter asked about Governor’s criticism

of the State Government. NTR replied: “I do not

know whether the Governor really made these

comments or not. But since he has denied it himself, I

don’t think it is proper for me to enter into a debate

with him on this issue”.

That was how I became unwittingly a centre of

controversy. It was obvious that I did not imagine the

Governor would object to his views being published

as I thought he was a man with courage of

convictions. The views were in tune with Dr Shankar

Dayal Sharma’s known views against regional

parties and in tune with the views of Rajiv Gandhi

129


who was the Prime Minister. Probably this was the

speech that Dr Sharma delivered in one of the in

camera meetings of the Governors’ conference, and it

was published, to embarrass the Governor!

When the Pope visited the United States, TIME

magazine published a report about the efforts of a

family in New York to catch a glimpse of the pontiff.

The family stood at a street corner, and saw the Pope

for a fraction of a second, but the happiness of the

family was indescribable. A TIME reporter caught

the mood of the family in a one page report.

I liked the report so much that I thought I could do a

similar story about an election campaign for a by-

election to Lok Sabha for the Kurnool seat, vacated

by Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy, in Andhra Pradesh.

In May, 1994, I happened to be in Kurnool district

covering the campaign of K.Suryaprakasa Reddy, son

of the Chief Minister, K.Vijayabhaskara Reddy.

Suryaprakasa Reddy was contesting for Lok Sabha,

in the seat vacated by his father. According to the

Chief Minister’s original programme, he should have

130

attended the funeral of Kasu Brahmananda Reddy in

the morning at Hyderabad, and come by helicopter

to Kurnool in the afternoon for the campaign. But

there was the “Seshan effect” those days, and the

Chief Election Commissioner was strict about

implementing Government Orders on the model code

of conduct. Vijayabhaskara Reddy was advised it

would be risky to travel by helicopter for a party

campaign, and so, he travelled by car from

Hyderabad, which was a distance of just 200 kms.

I was at Penchikalapadu village, hoping to meet

Suryaprakasa Reddy and travel with him to two or

three villages, but I saw the confusion among the

villagers and the party activists, as first, they said it

was Suryaprakasa Reddy that was coming, and later

on it was the Chief Minister himself coming. I was

able to see the way the party activists distribute

garlands to villagers to garland the Chief Minister,

the arrangements they make for a woman to give

haarathi to the visiting dignitary, the way they

arrange a crowd, and so on. This happens to all

131


political parties. I had H.Satish, our Photographer

with me, and I asked for a picture of the Chief

Minister accepting garlands from the crowd. The

whole event happened within the space of a minute,

and I described it in a matter-of-fact style without

using any adjectives to describe it. A man reading

the report would probably smile, seeing how things

are organised in the villages.

But the Chief Minister was quite angry with the

report. He knew only S.Rangarajan, the Managing

Director of THE HINDU, who also happened to be a

steward of the Hyderabad Race Club.

Vijayabhaskara Reddy met Rangarajan in the

presence of G.S.Reddy, another steward, who was a

personal friend of the Chief Minister.

Vijayabhaskara Reddy was informed that

Rangarajan was in the Madras Race Club attending

a race, and Reddy caught him there and complained

to him about my report. The Chief Minister

complained about a dozen times against my reports

to Rangarajan. His complaint was that I was

132

“partisan” in my coverage against him and in favour

of N.T.Rama Rao.

Vijayabhaskara Reddy told Rangarajan that his son

would win the Kurnool by-election by a margin of

over two lakh votes, and that the by election was not

much of a contest because it was his pocket borough,

but that I was making it look as if there was a keen

contest. Vijayabhaskara Reddy said that this was a

“farce” that I was enacting in order to help NTR.

Vijayabhaskara Reddy wanted that I should be

relieved of the Editorial responsibilities, and

preferably shifted to another town. The report “A

Village view of Campaigning” was part of the

strategy, he said.

Rangarajan called me up from the Madras race club,

and told me that the Chief Minister was very “much

upset” at the report, and “we have to do something

about it”. Rangarajan suggested “Why cant you

write another report saying that Vijayabhaskara

Reddy’s son will win hands down in Kurnool?” . I

told Rangarajan politely that I will deal with the

133


Chief Minister, and reported the matter to N.Ravi,

Editor, and Malini Parthasarathy, Executive Editor.

Both Ravi and Malini Parthasarathy stood by me

and asked me to ignore the Chief Minister’s threats.

The fact was that when Rangarajan met the Chief

Minister a few months earlier, the Chief Minister

asked him whether the HINDU required land in the

prime Jubilee Hills area for its printing press, but

since we already had a premises in which the paper

was being printed then, Rangarajan said he had

desire to build a guest house and the Chief Minister

offered a one acre site in Jubilee Hills. Rangarajan

had superstitious beliefs, and he stayed in one

particular room in the Krishna Oberoi Hotel when he

came for racing. He fancied for a good bungalow in

Jubilee Hills which he could use while he was in

Hyderabad.

When I came to know about this proposal from our

Managing Director, I conveyed to both Ravi and

Malini Parthasarathy, that one could get the best

acre of land, in 1994, at Jubilee Hills for Rs One

134

Crore, and it is preferable to purchase land instead of

getting it gratis from the State Government. Both of

them said they were not interested in the guest house

or the land, and so there was no follow up of the offer

of one acre of land. It was around this time that the

elections came and the report was published.

135

In the political arena of Andhra Pradesh, N.T.R, as

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao was known, created

history, by entering politics in his 60th year, coming

to power in nine months through his Telugu Desam

Party, by being Chief Minister of the State for nearly

seven and half years, by becoming Chairman of

National Front which came to power at the Centre in

the 1989 general elections, and above all, by leaving

his imprint on the idiom of politics in his home State.

His legacy has been enduring, as shown by the fact

that he, and his son-in-law, Nara Chandrababu

Naidu, have been in power for 16 years out of 21

years since the founding of Telugu Desam.

This book attempts to present a brief account of the

politics and ideas of NTR and Chandrababu. It is

more of a narrative, written with the perspective of a

journalist, rather than an academician. I worked as

Chief of Bureau of THE HINDU at Hyderabad for

30 years since 1971, and I had a ringside view of the

events described here. NTR emerged on the political

scene virtually as a novice, after 30 years in the

PREFACE

Reprint Edition 2An Overview of Political Movements inAndhra Pradesh

136

cinema field, but he came at the right time, after

Chief Minister T.Anjiah was humiliated by the then

AICC General Secretary Rajiv Gandhi at Hyderabad

airport in 1982, with the right slogan - of Telugu

self-respect. In 1982, Bhavanam Venkatram Reddy

was the third Congress Chief Minister in four years,

and another was to come five months later, and the

papers were full of reports of Congressmen from

Andhra Pradesh quarreling in Delhi. NTR said that

“Telugu self-respect was being butchered on the

streets of Delhi. We will be nobody’s branch office.

Congress (I)!, Quit Andhra Pradesh!”

NTR had to contend with an antagonistic Congress

rulers in Delhi, such as Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi

and P.V.Narasimha Rao, and an endless barrage of

criticism from Central Ministers visiting Andhra

Pradesh, and a defeat in the 1989 elections that saw

him as Leader of Opposition for five years. His

triumphant return to power in 1994 December

elections was soon overtaken by a family coup

against him which saw him out of power by

137


September, 1995. NTR died in anguish five months

later, a leader, beaten not by the Congress (I) but by

his own sons, daughters and sons-in-law, thoroughly

frustrated by desertions from his camp of MLAs who

touched his feet when they were given party tickets.

To understand the significance of NTR’s emergence

in proper perspective, there is an overview of Andhra

Pradesh’s social and political movements, such as

Alluri Seetharama Raju’s rebellian of 1924 in Rampa

Chodavaram area of East Godavari district, the

Telengana Armed Struggle of 1944-52, where for the

first time the theory of capturing power through the

barrel of the gun was tested, the Srikakulam

Naxalite movement of 1967-71 and the most militant

Naxalite group in the Country, Peoples War Group of

CPI (ML). There is a brief account of Congress

politics as well.

The books ends with a chapter on Chandra Babu’s

emergence as a new leader, the way he established his

legitimacy in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, his

experiments with administrative reforms and

138

electronic governance, the structural changes he

initiated in the power, irrigation and in the financial

administration of the State, virtually as a pioneer in

turning a backward State into a Information

Technology hub, and making Hyderabad a

happening City. My idea in writing the book is to tell

the story as it unfolded, because I felt that this story

needs to be told, as a new generation has already

emerged since NTR stormed the political citadel of

the Congress in Andhra Pradesh.

139


Andhra Pradesh ranks first - only when the States are

listed in the alphabetical order! The self-deprecatory

jokes in vogue describe the Telugu people’s attitudes -

if there are two Telugus in any town outside AP, they

form three associations. A businessman exported

crabs to United States, and the US trader sent a fax,

saying the plastic boxes had no lids. “Dont worry.

They are Telugu crabs, and if one tries to go up, ten

others will pull it down”,said the reply . But for all

these jokes , the Telugu speaking people were

receptive to new ideas and ideologies . Mahatma

Gandhi’s freedom struggle inspired many youth in

the Andhra districts, while the Brahmo Samaj

movement, the ideals of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

and Vivekananda, the social reform movements

initiated by Raja Rammohan Roy, M.N.Roy’s

philosophy of radical humanism, atheism as

practiced by Gora, all had their echo in the Andhra

countryside.

Andhra produced stalwarts in the freedom struggle

who carried the message of Sathyagraha and non-

violence to every nook and corner of the State . In

An Overview of PoliticalMovements in Andhra

140

1921, Duggirala Gopalakrishniah performed the

extraordinary feat of persuading the entire

population of about 17,000 in Chirala to leave the

town and settle in the outskirts, calling the new

township Perala, as a form of protest against the

decision to convert the Chirala Panchayat to a

Municipality. The protest was against the decision to

increase taxes on houses when the town became a

municipality.

In 1937, Kommareddi Sathyanarayana Murthy led a

save farmers delegation, walking 1,512 miles from

Ichapuram on the Andhra-Orissa border to Madras,

to present a memorandum to the Speaker of the

Madras Assembly, Bulusu Sambamurthy. They took

130 days to do so, covering 520 villages en route and

collecting about 25,000 signatures on the

memorandum. The movement was spurred by a

Government decision to increase the revenue and

water cess on lands from five rupees per acre to six

rupees four annas per acre. In the memorandum,

Sathyanarayana Murthy said that 40 per cent of the

141


agricultural land in coastal Andhra was under the

control of Zamindars, Mokasadars and Inamdars,

that farmers were under distress because of the

burden of debt, and lack of remunerative prices for

the paddy and coconut produced. If the farmer

approached a money lender for loan, the latter

demanded that he execute a bond for Rs 150 for every

Rs 100 loan the farmer took. Sathyanarayana

Murthy explained that the coconut oil had no

market because of its liberal imports from Ceylon

and Java. The total debt burden of farmers was

estimated at Rs 300 crores, and the farmers

demanded that Government should write off the

debt. Parakala Pattabhirama Rao, an Assistant

Editor in Visalandhra, compared the farmers march

to Mahatma’s salt sathyagraha and wrote that the

farmers march turned into a movement for the

abolition of the Zamindari system.

In 1936, C.Rajagopalachari became Premier of

Madras presidency, and when the farmers

memorandum came before him, he had a committee

142

with Tantuguru Prakasam, Revenue Minister, as

Chairman, to go into the conditions of farmers.

Prakasam’s report became the basis for the Revenue

Settlement bill of 1939 adopted by the Assembly.

Prakasam said that there were in all 1,659

Zamindaris in Andhra, and that the Zamindars

collected Rs 213 lakhs as cess from the farmers, while

they remitted only Rs 44 lakhs to the British

Government. According to the permanent settlement

agreement, the collection was on a very high side,

because the Zamindars ought to have collected only

Rs 63 lakhs from farmers, to remit Rs 44 lakhs to the

Government.

The farmers continued their struggle for zamindari

abolition in the zamindaris of Munagala,

Venkatagiri, Challapalli, Kalipatnam and Mandasa.

The Zamindaris were finally abolished in 1948, after

Independence.

Andhra also saw two extraordinary rebellions from

the tribesmen, one led by Alluri Seetharama Raju in

the Rampa Chodavaram hill tracts of East Godavari

143


and Visakhapatnam districts and another by

Komaram Bhim, a Gond tribesman in Adilabad

forests in Telengana, both on the banks of the

Godavari river. Alluri Seetharama Raju’s rebellion

went on from 1922 to 1924. The rebellion started as

a form of protest against oppressive officials of the

agency tract, but later developed into a movement to

liberate the agency areas from the British rule.

Sitarama Raju started the movement quite

dramatically, with the attack on Police stations at

Chintapalli, Krishnadevipeta and Raja Vommangi

on three successive days from 22 August 1922, with a

band of 500 koya tribesmen, in which they captured

26 carbines and 2,400 rounds of ammunition.

As Atluri Murali of University of Hyderabad says in

his monograph: “this was the period of intensive no-

tax campaigns. It was in this period that Gandhiji’s

promise of Swarajya in one year captured the

imagination of the tribal masses. This period also

saw the peasent radicalism of Pedanandipadu in

Guntur district, militant civil disobedience movement

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in Palnad and the mass exodus from Chirala” Alluri

Seetharama Raju liked the Gandhian call for total

prohibition, and started a campaign for prohibition

in the agency tracts. “His message spread like wild

fire. A new consciousness dawned on the innocent

people. People gave up drink in large numbers.

Seetharama Raju also encouraged wearing of Khadi

and he supplied Khadi uniforms to his followers”,

says Atluri Murali.

Seetharama Raju was 25 years old when he led the

rebellion. He was born in Mogallu in West Godavari

district, and studied upto the 9th class in Narsapur.

He was interested in astrology, herbal medicine and

horse riding, and he became a Sanyasin at the age of

18, wore a turban, a long shirt and knickers, all in

red khadi. The tribals regarded him as a holy man.

Seetharama Raju’s first band of followers included

the two brothers, Gam Gantayya Dora and Gam

Mallayya Dora, Aggiraju and Yendu Padal. The

Gam brothers were landholders but a petty official

called Bastian, the deputy tehsildar of Gudem,

145


deprived them of their lands and reduced them to

beggary. Gantayya Dora says in his deposition that

“I begged Bastian in so many ways not to ruin me. I

sat at his feet entreating him not to ruin me, but he

kicked me with his shoes thrice”. J.R.Huggins,

Agency Commissioner, in a report sent to

Government in 1922 said he examined some of the

captured rebels, and they were unanimous in saying

that the Deputy Tehsildar Bastian had under paid

and maltreated those working on the roads.

Seetharama Raju slowly converted the struggle

against the cruelty of Bastian and other officials of

the British empire to a struggle for Independence

from the British, hoping that Gandhiji’s promise of

Swarajya in one year would be achieved. The British

imposed a punitive tax of Rs 5,761 on the people of

Agency division for harbouring Seetharama Raju

and his followers. A Cash reward of Rs 1,500 was

declared for Seetharama Raju and Rs 1,000 each for

Gam brothers. The punitive tax was based on the

assessment that the monthly cost of a force of 100

146

men of Malabar Special Police was Rs 5,062 and for

East Coast Special Force, it was Rs 4,312. The

punitive tax was doubled in August, 1923 because the

area was visited a second time by Seetharama Raju.

The rebellion ended with the capture and killing of

Seetharama Raju on May 7, 1924. Vennalakanti

Raghaviah of Nellore published an eye witness

account stating that there was an altercation between

Seetharama Raju and Major Goodal at Mampa

village, that Raju demanded a prisoner of war

treatment, but that he was shot dead by a Jamedar of

East Coast Special Police on the orders of Major

Goodal. Mahatma Gandhi and the Andhra

Congress disapproved the armed rebellion, but

Gandhiji said in 1929, during his Andhra tour, when

a portrait of Seetharama Raju was presented to him,

that he would pay homage to a youth so brave, so

sacrificing, so noble in character as young

Seetharama Raju. “Would that the youth of the

Country cultivated Seetharama Raju’s daring, and

dedicated them for the attainment of Swaraj through

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non-violent means”, Gandhji wrote in Young India.

After his death, Alluri Seetharama Raju became a

folk hero and a legend, around whom several folk

tales sprung up and a film was made.

Komaram Bhim’s rebellion resulted in the Nizam

inviting a German born Anthropologist, von Furer

Haimendorf, to come to Adilabad and study the

condition of Gonds. The Anthropologist made a

study and suggested several measures to help the

tribespeople, one of which is still followed today, of

holding a “durbar” during a tribal festival, when

tribesman could present their problems to the District

Collector and seek redressel

Telengana Armed Struggle 1944-51

The State saw several major movements, such as the

Telengana Armed struggle launched by the

Communist Party between 1944-51 and the

Srikakulam Naxalite movement of 1967-71, two

agitations demanding bifurcation of the State called

the separate Telengana and Andhra agitations of

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1969 and 1971, and is today the home of the most

militant Naxalite group, the Peoples War Group of

the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist),

which wants to capture political power through

armed insurrection.

The Telangana Armed struggle was launched in

Nalgonda, Warangal and Khammam districts of

the old Nizam State, against landlordism and

against the Razakar movement. It was led by

Puchalapalli Sundarayya, Chandra Rajeswara Rao,

Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao, Chandra Pulla

Reddy, among others. The Party cadres took to arms

to defend the lands seized from landlords and

distributed among the poor by the Communist Party.

P.Sundariah writes in his “Telengana Peoples

Struggle and Its Lessons” that about 4,000 Party

cadres were killed during the movement, more than

10,000 party cadres were detained in camps for three

to four years, and that the Party set up gram swaraj

in 3,000 villages and administered them.

Nizam’s Hyderabad was marked by abject poverty in

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the villages, while power vested with the Nawabs,

Jagirdars and Deshmukhs. Even as late as 1949,

jagirs accounted for 35 per cent of the land, 34 per

cent of the villages and 30 per cent of the population,

as Barry Pavier writes in his “Telengana Movement –

1944-51” (Vikas, 1981). In December 1945, there was

an incident in Palakurthi village in Nalgonda district

when people resisted the attempt of the local

Deshmukh, Visnur Ramachandra Reddy, to

expropriate the crop harvested in a field belonging to

a widow.

As long as the Communist Party fought the landlords

and the Razakars, the people supported the Armed

struggle. But on September 13, ‘1948, the Indian

Army intervened and subdued the Nizam’s forces,

and about 6,000 Razakars surrendered and taken

prisoner as Nizam’s Hyderabad state was integrated

with Indian union. The character of the State

changed with Jawaharlal Nehru representing the

Indian Army, and the people were not willing to go

along with the Communist Party and throw out the

Nehru regime also, to usher in a people’s democratic

150

revolution under the Communist Party. The Party

suffered a series of setbacks from then on.

A delegation of Communist Party, consisting of

Chandra Rajeswara Rao, Makineni Basavapunniah,

Ajoy Kumar Ghosh and Sripat Amrit Dange went to

Moscow and held discussions with Stalin and leaders

of the Communist Party of Soviet Union.

The Telengana Armed struggle left an imprint on the

politics of the Andhra Pradesh state, it gave rise to a

strong civil liberties movement, triggered land

reforms, and made Khammam and Nalgonda a

strong base for the Communist Parties. It was to

counter this movement that Acharya Vinobha Bhave

launched his “Bhoodan” movement for redistribution

of land from Pochampalli village, famous for its

handloom sarees, in Nalgonda district in 1952,

accepting voluntary donation of land from big

landlords which was later redistributed among the

poor. Vinobha Bhave’s movement however failed

because of lack of linkages and a lack of follow up

action.

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China’s Chairman is our Chairman -Srikakulam movement 1967-71

The Communist Party split in 1964 in the wake of the

Chinese aggression, and a Communist Party of India

(Marxist) came into being, and the CPI (M) was split

again in Andhra in 1967 under the leadership of

Tarimela Nagi Reddy, Chandra Pulla Reddy,

Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao among others, at the

Party plenum in Palacole in West Godavari district.

They formed a CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Party and

wanted to launch militant land struggles over

ground, not below ground, and build a mass

movement throughout the Country for this purpose.

It also believed in forcible redistribution of land, by

taking over the surplus land from the landlords and

distributing it among the poor.

Immediately after the party was launched, the

leaders including the top brass consisting of Nagi

Reddy, Ch.Pulla Reddy and D.Venkateswara Rao

went to Madras to build the Party in secret, stayed in

a house at Anna Nagar where a new World Trade

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exposition was being launched – and were all

arrested at one go by the Police. These leaders were

detained and were prosecuted under the

Secunderabad Conspiracy case for about 10 years .

This later split into various splinter groups by the

1980s, groups such as the Centre for Communist

Revolutionaries of India, the Praja Prathighatana

group, the Jana Sakthi group (named after their

publications) etc.

At the time of the formation of CPI (NL), the

Srikakulam district unit of the CPI (ML) was headed

by Vempatapu Sathyanarayana as General Secretary,

with Adibhatla Kailasam, Nagabushanam Patnaik,

Panchadi Krishnamurthy, Vasanthada

Ramalingachari and Chowdhary Tejeswara Rao,

among others in the District Committee. With

leaders of the newly formed CPI (ML) in jail, the

Srikakulam unit could easily be enticed by Charu

Mazumdar, who came to ask them to take to armed

revolution to overthrow the oppressive regime under

the guidance of Mao Tsetung Thought. With the

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slogan “China’s Chairman is our Chairman” and the

main teaching that “power flows from the barrel of

the gun” the Srikakulam unit launched an armed

insurrection in a gruesome way. In the earliest

incidents, the group attacked a trader in Palasa,

killed him, collected the blood in a bucket and wrote

slogans in praise of Chairman Mao all over the

walls.

The movement got a boost with an editorial called

“Spring Thunder Over Srikakulam” published in the

People’s Daily of China which signified an open

endorsment of the CPI ML Mao Tse Tung thought

faction of the ML groups. The cultural revolution

was on in China, in which both the Country and the

Party were in a flux, but Charu Mazumdar’s thesis

prevailed with the Srikakulam group. While the

Naxalite movement weakened in Naxalbari itself,

where Charu Mazumdar initially launched, it took

sprouts in Srikakulam. A number of CPI ML activists

were in a state of confusion, and there was even one

group in Andhra owing allegience to Lin Piao., a

154

military leader who was subsequently discredited in

China.

Vempatapu Sathyanarayana, called “Baridi

Mastaru” (school teacher of Baridi village), was

around 40 years old when he suddenly caught the

nation’s attention as leader of the militant Naxalite

group. He was known to a number of Revenue and

Forest officials of the district, as he had organised a

Girijan Cooperative Society in Gumma Lakshmi

Puram, and had staged dharnas outside the Revenue

offices demanding fair price for the forest produce the

tribals had collected. He had a natural limp, which

made him a slow walker, had deserted his first wife,

to marry two tribal women, one belonging to Savara

and the other to the Jatapu communities in the

district.

The Srikakulam group killed about 40 landlords in

two years, and its underground cadre strength was

estimated at 200 while 500 tribals worked as militants

who worked overground and organised the courier

systems and the hideouts..Jalagam Vengal Rao

155


became Home Minister in Kasu Brahmananda

Reddy’s cabinet in 1969 and he took the naxalite

movement as a challenge to be dealt with at the

Police level effectively. There was one encounter in

September, 1969 in which 12 naxalite leaders were

killed, causing a serious set back to the Naxalites..

While the movement was in progress, a number of

members of the District Committee were caught by

Police and lodged in Visakhapatnam Central Jail,

and these included Nagabushanam Patnaik. Six of

these leaders made a dramatic escape from Jail, but

were arrested the following day as they were walking

along a railway track. Nagabushanam Patnaik’s

dairies revealed that he had serious differences with

Charu Mazumdar and Vempatapu Sathyanarayana

on tactics. Patnaik opposed eulogising “China’s

Chairman” and argued that Charu Mazumdar’s

policies failed to politicise the masses. He also

complained that exaggerated reports appeared in the

Liberation magazine, edited by Sushital Roy

Chowdhary, declaring Srikakulam district as a

156

“liberated area” which caused embarassment to the

party. Patnaik also wrote that Vempatapu

Sathyanarayana’s second marriage caused

resentment among the tribal communities.

The Srikakulam movement collapsed when

Vempatapu Sathyanarayana and Adibhotla

Kailasam were killed by Police in an encounter at

Bori Hills on July 12, 1970. Some of the naxalite

leaders later acknowledged that it was a mistake to

have issued the slogan that “China’s Chairman is our

Chairman” because the Savara and Jatapu tribes

people were unable to relate themselves to Mao Tse

Tung .

The Srikakulam movement triggered a new wave of

Governmental attention to tribal areas. It led to the

promulgation of Regulation 1 of 1971 which

contained a presumption clause, inserted at the

instance of S.R.Sankaran, Secretary, Social Welfare

department, that all lands in the Agency area are

presumed to belong to tribal people, unless there is

documentary evidence to the contrary. The

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Regulation 1 of 1971 prohibited alienation of land by

a tribal to anyone except a tribal. Despite this

regulation, a large extent of land in tribal villages

passed on to the plains people who entered the area

as money lenders and businessmen.

A social activist group called Shakthi, headed by Dr

Sivaramakrishniah, did innovative research by

acquiring land records pertaining to 1920s from the

Revenue department, and then confronting the

Government with demands to reopen the land

ownership issue in several agency villages of West

Godavari district. They depended on the

presumption clause in Regulation 1 of 1971 and

succeeded to some extent, but there were pressures on

the Revenue officials not to disturb the non-tribal

landholders in the agency areas, and also the CPI

(M) and Peoples War activists entered the area in an

effort to displace Shakthi. Shakthi’s efforts to win

the tribal people’s case through legal means thus

encountered serious obstacles and they were forced to

slow down and later withdrew from the area.

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Power from the Barrel of a Gun

As if in continuation of the Srikakulam Naxalite

movement, a Communist Party of India (Marxist-

Leninist) Peoples War, was established on 22 April

1980 by Kondapalli Seetaramiah, at Warangal. He

was a Hindi teacher working in the Railway School

at Hanamkonda and was already 57 years old. He

worked as a courier during the Communist Party’s

armed struggle in the old Nizam State during 1944-

52 but he was censured by the party and sent to work

in Krishna district, after his wife complained to the

party that he deserted her and was living with

another woman.

Just before he started the Peoples War, KS went to

China and spent a month there, learning the

techniques of guerilla warfare. He later said that he

asked the Chinese for money to fund a revolutionary

movement, but was given only Rs 25,000 to set up a

printing press! He was a good organiser, because he

built up a big infrastructure with dens, courier

systems, arms and money dumps, in the north

159


Telengana districts to start with. He enlisted people

like K.G.Sathyamurthy and Mukku Subba Reddy

into the Central Organising Committee. By about

1985, KS had nine State Committees in Tamilnadu,

Karnataka and Maharashtra beside the Andhra

Provincial Committee, the North Telengana Zonal

Committee and Dandakaranya Provincial

Committee.

KS planned it very big, concentrating on forest areas

on both sides of the Godavari river, called the

Dandakaranya. The Peoples War supported all

movements in the Country against the State, such as

the Naga rebels seeking cessation, the United

Liberation Front of Assam, the Khalistan Liberation

Force as well as the pro-Pakistan outfits operating in

Jammu & Kashmir.

KS once explained the PW philosophy in this way:

“The Indian ruling classes, the big bourgeoise, big

landlord classes, represented by all the political

parties, seek to protect the existing semi-colonial,

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semi-feudal society, which is the root cause of all

basic problems of the people, such as hunger, poverty,

unemployment, high prices and corruption. The

economic interests of the ruling classes are

inseperably bound with the preservation of this

exploitative system. If hunger and poverty have to

go, unemployment has to end, if the Country should

prosper, then revolutionary agrarian reforms have to

be enforced on the basis of land to the tiller under the

hegemony of the proletariat. That means that all the

lands should be confiscated without paying

compensation and distributed free to agricultural

labour and landless poor. The huge capital and

properties of industrialists should be confiscated

without compensation. The people should boycott

the elections, being held in this exploitative society,

because it will end up only in handing over power to

the ruling classes and their henchmen”.

The PW philosophy was to capture political power

through armed insurrection, following the Mao

dictum that “power flows from the barrel of a gun”.

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By 1986, PW had about 1,000 armed men and

women distributed in various dalams (squads). An

internal power struggle ensued, and KS expelled

K.G.Sathyamurthy and Mukku Subba Reddy and

brought in, in their place, Muppala Lakshmana Rao

alias Ganapathi among others.

Mukku Subba Reddy later surrendered to the Police,

and was given a prime piece of land near Irrum

Manzil in Hyderabad on which he built a five

storeyed shopping complex, made a neat pile of

money, and vanished from public gaze.

K.G.Sathyamurthy later joined a Bahujan

Republican Party, and came under Kanshi Ram’s

influence to join the Bahujan Samaj Party, but he was

snubbed by Kansi Ram at a public meeting in

Prakasam district. Two chairs were placed on the

dias for Kansi Ram and Sathyamurthy to sit, but

Kansi Ram had the second chair removed, forcing

Sathyamurthy to stand among the crowd.

Sathyamurthy subsequently left Bahujan Samaj Party

and went underground.

162

In 1991, KS found the going tough in the PW, as he

was slowly isolated in the COC as well as in the

Andhra Provincial Committee, with the COC

planning to make Ganapathy the General Secretary,

and elevating KS to the ornamental post of a

Chairman. At the plenum held that year, KS offered

to resign as General Secretary and Ganapathy

offered to resign from the COC, but the plenum

rejected both offers. KS complained that there was a

campaign launched against him, alleging that he was

too old and too sick to direct the movement. Later

that year, KS was expelled from the PW, on grounds

of senility. In March 1993, KS surrendered to the

Police. He was prosecuted in a Court, but was

released on bail, and he died peacefully in his village

near Gudivada. He was truly alone in the end,

because he made an attempt to reconcile with his first

wife, who was living in an Old Age Home in

Hyderabad, but she declined to join him in his last

days.

The PW has become the most militant Naxalite

163


group in the Country, by various squad actions

targetting leaders belonging to all major political

parties, besides killing poor people such as barbers

and washermen, branding them as “police

informers”, resorting to extortions, meting out

instant justice in “praja Courts”, organising famine

raids and so on. Between 1980 and 1996, a total of

1,140 Naxalites died in Police encounters, while the

Naxalites killed 1,805 civillians branding them as

“police informers” and 242 Policemen.

In its most dramatic action, the PW made an

unsuccessful bid to assassinate the Chief Minister,

Chandrababu Naidu, on October 1, 2003.

Chandrababu participated in a series of official

functions at Tirupati, and was going uphill to present

“pattu vastrams” to the deity, Lord Venkateswara, as

every year the Chief Ministers do during the

Brahmotsavams. A kilometre from Alipiri, the

starting point of the ghat road uphill, three PW

operatives triggered the 17 explosives they had

planted on the ghat road. Of them, 9 exploded, right

164

under the Chief Minister’s bullet proof car. The car

was thrown up and landed on its side, but by a

miracle, Chandrababu was dazed but unharmed,

while the Minister, Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy, and

two MLAs, Chadavalavada Krishnamurthy of

Tirupati and Rajasekhara Reddy of Puttur, sitting in

the back seat, were seriously injured. The PW

activists worked for a contractor as daily wage

labour six months earlier, and as the contractor was

building a parapat wall, the activists laid the

claymore mines under the ground of the ghat road,

connected them through copper wires, which they

concealed beyond the parapet wall in the bushes.

As the Chief Minister later explained, he fell on the

driver, and had a pass out, and he regained his

consciousness only as he was being wheeled into the

Ruia Government Hospital at Tirupati.

Chandrababu described his escape as due to divine

providence. After two weeks of rest in Hyderabad,

the Chief Minister went to Tirupati again, to offer

prayers to Lord Venkateswara. His wife,

165


Bhuvaneswari, gave a traditional “niluvu dopidi”

offering to the deity, and put into the hundi all the

gold and jewellery she was wearing at that time.

Chandrababu had a hairline fracture on his left

collar bone, and had to put his hand on a sling for a

month. There were small splinters in his rib cage and

intestines, and doctors said these could not be

removed. The Minister, Gopalakrishna Reddy, and

MLA, Krishnamurthy, were back in active politics a

month later, while Rajasekhara Reddy was still in

Hospital till December, 2003, recovering from the

head injury he suffered.

After the Alipiri incident, Chandrababu said

Government will not hold talks with PW. The PW

took an aggressive stand, and said it was “banning”

the Telugu Desam, that it will not allow Telugu

Desam leaders to campaign for the next elections,

and that it will target the Chief Minister once again,

and “this time he may not escape”.

The PW killed the Home Minister, Alimineti

Madhava Reddy, in a landmine blast on the

166

Ghatkesar road near Hyderabad, as he was

returning from a function in Ranga Reddy district, a

senior IPS officer, K.S.Vyas, as he was jogging in the

Lal Bahadur stadium in Hyderabad, besides senior

IPS officers, G.Pardesi Naidu and Umesh Chandra.

In 1997 alone, 148 extremists were killed while PW

units killed 46 policemen in exchanges and landmine

explosions. Police estimate that the PW was

collecting Rs 50 crores per year through “levy”

system in Andhra Pradesh alone.

The Peoples War committed its most ghastly crime

on October 9, 1990, when about a dozen activists

entered a compartment of Kakatiya Fast Passenger

at Ghatkesar near Hyderabad, bolted all the doors of

the compartment except one for their escape, poured

petrol across the compartment and set it on fire.

Forty seven passengers died. The compartment went

up on flames within seconds, and it burnt from 6.35

pm till 9 pm, and rescuers found bodies piled up near

the only door that could be opened where there was

stampede. The PW distributed pamphlets saying

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they were protesting against the Supreme Court

staying the Mandal report on reservations for

backward classes. About a year later, Kondapalli

Seetaramiah spoke about the incident in an interview

he gave to a Telugu newspaper, saying that such

mistakes do occur in a revolutionary movement now

and then, but that does not deflect from the

importance of the movement. The PW did not

express regret, nor punish anyone for this act.

The PW appears to be on the decline, considering the

fact that about 565 extremists surrendered to the

Police in 1999 alone. The Police was able to strike at

the movement when it killed three top leaders and

members of the Central Organising Committee, in

an encounter at Koyyuru forest in Karimnagar

district. Those killed were Nalla Adi Reddy alias

Shyam, who was earlier Secretary of Andhra PC but

was elevated to the COC, Yerramreddy Santosh

Reddy alias Mahesh, Secretary of Andhra PC and

Seelam Naresh alias Murali, Secretary of North

Telengana Zonal Committee. In a rare signed

168

statement, Ganapathy said that these three leaders

were actually arrested from their shelter in

Banashankari near Sarakki gate bus stop in

Bangalore on December 1, 1999, while they were in a

meeting, because of the betrayal by Govinda Reddy,

who was running the shelter. Ganapathy said that at

the time of the arrests, Govinda Reddy had a dump

of atleast 5 kgs of gold and a few lakhs of rupees.

Ganapathy said that these PW leaders were bumped

off in a fake encounter in Koyyeru after they were

interrogated for full 24 hours.

The first suggestion for a dialogue to end the violence

came from the Andhra Pradesh High Court. In a

judgment in July 1996, Justice M.N.Rao and Justice

S.R.Nayak said that a peace commission be set up

with a representative character, inspiring confidence

in all sections of society, including the naxalites and

police, to bring about a cessation of police

encounters and violence by naxalites. In the

following year, a Committee of Concerned Citizens

(CCC) came up, with the pro-tribal civil servant

169


S.R.Sankaran as Convenor, which began a process of

writing to the Government and the PW to help

reduce the atmosphere of tension and violence. The

CCC said in 1997: “Agrarian movements are not a

new phenomenon in Andhra Pradesh. Land based

struggles of the poor, especially tribals, have taken

place several times in the region’s history. There is

presently a situation prevailing in north Telengana

districts, in which the right to normal and peaceful

living of the common people is severely curtailed by a

continuing spiral of violence and all round suffering.

While on the one hand, there is little respect for law

and life on the part of the State, and its agencies,

ruthless violence regardless of people’s will,

aspirations and sufferings seem to have overtaken the

revolutionary parties as well”

The CCC, 10 senior newspaper editors and a

group of teachers of Osmania University, issued an

appeal to both the Government and the PW in April

2000 to cease hostilities for a specified period, to

allow the people to live in peaceful atmosphere in

170

north Telengana. The PW’s response was one of

anguish that these three bodies placed on the same

footing, “the criminal and offensive Government, and

those who are fighting for the people and in self-

defence”. K.Ramakrishna, Secretary of Andhra PC

(who was to be killed in an encounter in 2003) listed

eight demands the Government should first accept

before a ceasefire could begin, such as stopping raids

on villages, ending combing operations in villages

and forests, instituting an enquiry by a Supreme

Court Judge on the deaths of Nalla Adi Reddy and

others.

Ramakrishna said that PW considered that it is the

“birth right of people to resist by legal or illegal

means, peacefully or by arms, the violence and

attrocities on the people, and cruel exploitation of

people by oppressive landlords and big capitalists.

We consider the right to fight as our historical

responsibility”

In 2002 however, there was a slow movement towards

talks, and the PW sent Gaddar, a ballad singer, and

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Varavara Rao, a writer, as their representatives to

discuss the modalities for talks. The State

Government constituted a committee of three

Ministers including K.Vijayarama Rao, Minister for

Commercial Taxes, who is a retired IPS officer and a

former Director of Central Bureau of Investigation.

The Ministers preferred to talk to the PW itself,

instead of the emissaries, and said Government was

willing to discuss any agenda.

In a note given to the committee of Ministers having

talks with Gaddar and Varavara Rao on June 18,

2002, Ramakrishna said that rather than creating a

conducive atmosphere for talks, the Police continued

to arrest PW activists, foisting false cases and

resorting to torture. “We believe there is no change in

the attitude of your Police officials. They are

behaving like politicians and throwing spanners in

the talks process. They have been resorting to

malicious campaign against the democratic

movement. The main objective is to create peaceful

atmosphere, but the Government is scuttling the

172

process by demanding that our cadre should join the

mainstream and shun arms. We make it clear that

these issues do not form part of the agenda of talks”

Government said it cannot abdicate its responsibility

of maintaining law and order, and so cannot declare,

as a matter of policy, that it will not attack naxalites

in the face of provocation. The talks, held in two

stages in 2002, ended in failure.

In 2003, the PW’s COC consisted of Muppala

Lakshmana Rao alias Ganapathy as General

Secretary, and, as Members - Cherukuri Raj Kumar

alias Madhav, Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias

Prahlad, Lambala Kesava Rao alias Ganganna,

Katakam Sudhakar alias Anand, Mallojula

Venugopal alias Vivek, Malla Raj Reddy alias

Sattenna, Lanka Papi Reddy alias Ranganna, Sande

Rajakumar alias Prasad, Jinugu Narasimha Reddy

alias Jampanna, Akkiraju Haragopal alias

Ramakrishna, who was Secretary, Andhra PC.

The CCC consists of eminent personalities such as

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Potturi Venkateswara Rao, an Editor, Professors

G.Haragopal, D.Narasimha Reddy and

B.Chandrasekhara Rao of University of Hyderabad,

Prof K.Jayasankar, a former Vice Chancellor, among

others.

The CCC in 1999 told the PW: “We feel concerned to

find a shift in the direction of your movement, and

the thrust seems to be more on military objectives

rather than on mobilisation of people for social

transformation. This militarisation approach has its

own limitations, and will stiffle democratic

expression of people’s aspirations. Revolutionary

change, in our view, is a qualitative alteration of the

existing social relations and creating new human

beings who are superior in material and moral terms.

It is the moral responsibility of any emancipatory

movement to preserve all that is humane in the

existing society”.

Does a small minority of people represented by the

Peoples War have the right to alter the social

174

structure and take over by force a society and impose

its own rule and its Government on it? Can a small

group of dedicated people dictate to society saying

that democracy is a fallacy and that they will by

force impose on the society their own form of

Government?

The Marxist view is that “rights are constraints on

human freedom” and that “freedoms” and “rights”

had meaning to the propertied classes as they protect

and legitimise their priveleges, “but such a structure

results in the unfreedom of the proletariat. The only

freedom it has is the participation in the productive

process without having any say in the nature of

production and much less in the distribution of fruits

of labour”

In a discussion at the Univerisity of Hyderabad in

1997, Prof G.Haragopal, who runs a human rights

programme, said that the crisis in socialist world

added a new dimension to the discourse, and that the

view that socialist societies collapsed solely due to

their failure to observe political and civil rights

175


requires to be examined. He wrote: “China did not

collapse, partly because of its impressive

performance on the economic front and participative

culture, in the form of communes, that it inherited.

However the tragedy seems to be that China is not

only dichotomising the rights, but blatantly pleading

against the civil and political rights in all the

international fora. The standpoint of China and its

practices pose challenges to the notion of human

rights”.

A Civil Rights activist, Dr K.Balagopal, says that the

Marxist notion of a revolutionary rupture, as the

sum and substance of positive activity, looks very

doubtful today. In a discussion on the difference

between individual-centred and collectivity-centred

rights, he says: “Where the Moist agrarian revolution

is seen as the collective right of the landless poor,

then that is to be supplemented by the right of an

individual landless labourer to reject the revolution

and colloborate with the Congress Party, a right that

is not always respected by the Moists in Andhra

Pradesh or Bihar”.

176

In his view, the individual-centred rights and

collectivity-centred rights are not mutually exclusive

but complementary. He makes a distinction between

the right to live freely within society, and the freedom

to overthrow the society. “Stark as this dichotomy

appears, in practical terms, there can be no right to

overthrow a social order, if one is talking of that

right as an entitlement that can be conceivably

conceded” Dr Balagopal wants everyone to look at

democracy positively as an achievement of human

civilisation, which is to be carried forward while

critically overcoming its limitations.

Dr Balagopal says that he acknowledges the principle

that Government must be made of those who have

the mandate of the people to govern, though it does

not solve all problems of mandate. He rejects the

notion that real change towards a free society can

only come through a forcible rupture of the existing

society. “Every attempt to build a classless society by

force of authority has failed, and will fail again and

again. The fight against oppression frequently takes

177


violent forms but the restructuring of society on just

lines is not something done by force”, he adds.

The world in 2003 is vastly different from the world

of Karl Marx. The Information Technology

revolution has completely changed the concept of

means of production and distribution, and today it is

agreed that “knowledge creates wealth”. The trend is

to have knowledge societies, and knowledge hubs.

Bill Gates has become the world’s richest person with

a worth of Rs 4 lakh crores, earned through software

creating Windows 95 etc, but he does not own any

factory. The Peoples War has got into a trap,

thinking that its own understanding of Marxism-

Leninism is the only legitimate way to interpret it for

the 21st century. The techniques the PW use might

have been used before in Vietnam in the 1950s and in

Cuba in 1960s, but India is a nation of continental

proportions, and therefore an unlikely theatre in

which a guerilla movement can capture power.

178

Congress politics in Andhra Pradesh were always

marked by groupism. All Congress Chief Ministers

were basically group leaders, who maintained

political groups of supporters, who regularly met and

advised the Chief Minister, or, if the leader was out

of power, met regularly to plan for the Chief

Minister’s ouster. The Ministers under the Chief

Minister, or the leaders with the dissident contender,

had their own groups in the districts, and these

district leaders also played a big role in the politics of

the State. These leaders frowned on those that

shifted their loyalties and tried to punish them.

The freedom struggle encompassed all sections of

society in Andhra districts, but the movement did not

throw up a leader who could rub shoulders with

Nehru, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, or Subash Chandra

Bose, someone comparable to Rajaji from the South.

The best known figure from the past is Tanguturi

Prakasam Pantulu, called Andhra Kesari, the Lion of

Andhra, for baring his chest and daring a Policeman

to shoot, while leading a demonstration against

Congress Politics

179


Simon Commission near the Madras Harbour in the

1930s. Though he quit the Congress to join the

Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party of J.B.Kripalani, when

he lost the election as President of Andhra Congress

Committee to Neelam Sanjiva Reddy in 1952,

Prakasam was made the first Chief Minister of the

newly formed state of Andhra, with Kurnool as

Capital, in October, 1953. But Prakasam’s

Government could not survive even for one year, and

his Government was defeated by a single vote, due to

Congress factionalism, on an innocuous issue such as

prohibition. Bhogaraju Pattabhi Seetharamiah was

a scholar, who founded the Andhra Bank at

Machilipatnam in the 1920s, and an official

biographer for the Congress. He had to contest at

the instance of the Mahatma, against Subash

Chandra Bose and became the President of All India

Congress Committee. There were big leaders like

N.G.Ranga, whose actual name was Gogineni

Ranganayakulu, of whom it was said that he will not

“get the first post of a Chief Minister and will not

accept the second”. Prof Ranga was a Member of

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Parliament for 50 years, but his active political career

ended by the 1970s. There was a man of sterling

character, Tenneti Viswanatham, who was Leader of

Opposition in the Madras Assembly while Rajaji was

Chief Minister. Viswanatham was a colleague of

Prakasam, and he drifted to Janata by 1977, but

faded out later. There was thus a long gap in the

Congress heirarchy, and senior Congress leaders

found they were looked down upon even by Personal

Assistants to Prime Ministers and Congress

Presidents. Another disadvantage was that the

leaders from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema

districts had no knowledge of Hindi, and this

inhibited their access to senior leaders from the

North.

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy became the first Chief

Minister of Andhra Pradesh, when the integrated

State came into being on November 1, 1956, by

combining the 9 districts of Telengana from the

erstwhile Nizam’s dominion, with 9 districts of

coastal Andhra and 4 districts of Rayalaseema. He

181


was the natural choice, as he was President of

Andhra Congress Committee, a strong faction leader

who consolidated his position to retain a unique

place in politics. When he was four years into office,

the then AICC President, K.Kamaraj, came up with a

plan to draft important leaders for party work, and

Sanjiva Reddy was sent to Delhi as AICC President,

thus helping a Scheduled Caste leader, Damodaram

Sanjiviah, to become the first SC Chief Minister in

the Country. Sanjiviah was swamped by dissidence.

Anam Chenchu Subba Reddy, who was Minister

under Sanjiviah, gave him immense trouble, and after

1962 general elections, Sanjiva Reddy returned to the

State as Chief Minister while Sanjiviah went to Delhi

as AICC President. Sanjiva Reddy was unlucky in his

second stint as Chief Minister. In 1963, Government

took over all private bus routes, and the first one to be

nationalised was the route operated by Machani

Somappa, a staunch follower of Sanjiviah, in

Kurnool. Somappa went to Court, alleging mala

fide in the Government decision, asserting that

Sanjiva Reddy chose to take over his bus routes first

182

to punish him for supporting Sanjivayya. Sanjiva

Reddi’s affadavit did not specifically deny this

allegation, and the High Court held that since the

petitioner’s charge was not denied, there could be

substance in the charge, and hence the GO was set

aside. Sanjiva Reddy resigned. He later commented

that a former Chief Minister without power was “like

a temple without a deity”. Sanjiva Reddy went on to

become the Congress candidate for President in the

1969 elections. Indira Gandhi proposed his name -

and then helped the Independent candidate, V.V.Giri,

to win!. Sanjiva Reddy cooled his heels for the next

seven years, when he became the only Janata

candidate to win from Andhra Pradesh at Nandyal,

becoming first the Speaker of Lok Sabha, and then

the President. He then played a dubious role in

helping to topple Morarji Desai’s first Janata

Government at the Centre, then making Charan

Singh rather than Jagjivan Ram, to head a

Government, and paving the way for mid term

elections to Lok Sabha in 1980 and Indira Gandhi’s

return to power.

183


When Sanjiva Reddy resigned as Chief Minister in

1964, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy was installed in his

place. He was a shrewd politician, and he ruled the

State for seven and half years from 1964. He

consolidated his position, isolated his adversaries,

and had a fairly smooth term of office till 1969 when

the separate Telengana agitation shook the State. In

the old Nizam’s Sate, the Nizam gave preference in

Government jobs to Mulkis, that is those domiciled in

the dominion for a minimum period of 15 years.

Andhra Pradesh came into being in 1956, and the

Non Gazetted Officers (NGOs) who came to

Hyderabad, first from Madras, when Andhra State

was formed in 1953 with Kurnool as capital, and

from Kurnool, would become Mulkis by 1971. When

the NGOs from old Hyderabad and old Madras

presidency were being integrated in common lists for

promotions, the employees from Telengana felt that

they would have got their promotions if the

employees from Andhra had not come to Hyderabad.

Dr Marri Channa Reddy was a Minister in

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Brahmananda Reddy’s cabinet, but Brahmananda

Reddy persuaded him to go to the Centre as a Union

Minister for Steel. In the 1967 elections to the

Assembly, an Arya Samaj leader, Vandemataram

Ramachandra Rao, contested against Dr Channa

Reddy, and later unseated him through an election

petition, by proving that Dr Reddy appealed to

Muslims in a dargha to vote for him, which was an

election offence. Dr Reddy had to resign from the

Union Cabinet in 1969 and returned to Hyderabad,

nursing a grievance against Brahmananda Reddy

who was considered the spirit behind the election

petition. Dr Channa Reddy set up a Telengana

Praja Samithi and mobilised the NGOs who had

grievances about their promotions, and students

behind the TPS. He went all out for a separate State,

whipping up regional sentiments. The movement

reached its peak in 1969 when the people from

Andhra were brusquely asked by groups of protesters

to leave Hyderabad, and an exodus took place in an

atmosphere of fear. At the height of the agitation,

there were frequent police firings on demonstrators in

185


Telengana districts and Hyderabad was placed under

curew. The Telengana leaders said that more than

300 people were killed in police firings, and

Brahmananda Reddy was unable to control the

movement.

The Telengana agitation vulgarised politics in

Andhra Pradesh. People from Andhra region had to

come to Hyderabad because it was the State’s capital,

the seat of the High Court, the Secretariat, the offices

of all Heads of Departments, Central Government

offices having jurisdiction over the State, which

naturally gave a spin off for the location of housing

colonies and industries. The people from Andhra

region felt cheated at the turn the agitation took,

targetting them. Dr Channa Reddy would go to

Delhi frequently, call on Indira Gandhi, and

announce that the days of Brahmananda Reddy were

numbered, as he had become the “biggest irritant for

the people of Telengana” while Brahmananda Reddy

would say that Dr Channa Reddy was “pumping air

into a punctured tyre”. Brahmananda Reddy never

186

considered the option of resigning, because he

enjoyed the majority support of Congress MLAs.

But one day at the height of the agitation, he

suddenly resigned, resulting in a mass celebration of

firing crackers in Hyderabad, but this was a one day

affair, because the Congress Legislature Party

rejected his offer to resign and Brahmananda Reddy

continued in power!

A big turmoil was going on at the national level, and

Indira Gandhi nationalised banks and abolished

privy purses, and went for a snap election to Lok

Sabha in 1971. The Telengana Praja Samithi won 10

out of 14 seats in Lok Sabha from the region and

showed it truly represented the Telengana sentiment.

But still Brahmananda Reddy would not go. The end

came dramatically, when in reply to a debate in the

Assembly in September, 1971, the then Finance

Minister, K.Vijayabhaskara Reddy, asserted that “no

force on earth” can unseat Brahmananda Reddy as

long as he enjoyed the support of legislators. The

next day, Brahmananda Reddy was called to Delhi

187


and asked to resign. This was however preceded by

high drama. 1968 and 1969 were marked by severe

rice shortage all over the Country, and there were

controls over the movement of rice stocks from one

district to another and from one State to another.

Even so, Brahmananda Reddy collected five rupees

per quintal of rice for party fund from millers who

were given permits to export rice from coastal delta

districts to Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. In

September of 1971, Income Tax officials swooped

down on rice millers in Andhra, and rice traders in

the three southern States, to check their records, to

see how much rice actually came in from Andhra,

and to calculate the actual amount that

Brahmananda Reddy collected. The atmosphere

was so tense that Hyderabad was agog with rumours

that even the Chief Minister’s official residence was

searched. Anyway, Brahmananda Reddy resigned.

Since the “major irritant was gone”, Dr Channa

Reddy dissolved the Telengana Praja Samithi and

merged with the Congress, thus ending the separatist

agitation. It was clear from the succeeding events

188

that Dr Channa Reddy’s number one objective in

conducting the seperate Telengana agitation in 1969

was to remove Brahmananda Reddy from power,

rather than have a seperate state for Telengana, and

having achieved this objective in September, 1971, he

called off the agitation. A small group calling itself,

Sampurna Telengana Praja Samithi, tried to continue

the agitation for Seperate Telengana, but it could not

make even a fraction of the impact that Dr Channa

Reddy made before, and it could win only two seats

in the Assembly in the 1972 elections. One seat was

that of T.Purushotham Rao of Warangal, who

subsequently went to Congress and became a

Minister in Vijayabhaskara Reddy’s Cabinet in 1993

while the other was that of J.Eswari Bai, of the

Republican Party, who subsequently tried to have an

alliance with N.T.Rama Rao in 1983, was rebuffed,

and remained a Republican party leader.

P.V.Narasimha Rao became Chief Minister on

Vijayadasami day in September 1971 with a fund of

goodwill. But he was so unsure of himself that he

189


spent 40 days in Delhi out of his first 50 days as Chief

Minister, seeking constant advice and guidance

from the High Command. He became a “Non

Resident Chief Minister” and slowly lost his public

goodwill. When the Supreme Court upheld the Mulki

Rules, P.V.Narasimha Rao welcomed the judgment,

saying it said the “final word” on the subject. The

simmering discontent among the people from Andhra

region in Hyderabad blew up with this statement,

and a movement for seperate Andhra took shape,

again spearheaded by the NGOs and students from

that region. They said they cannot get a seat for

their children in a Government College in Hyderabad,

or get a job under AP Government because they were

not mulkis. They said that people from Andhra

region were treated as second class citizens.

P.V.Narasimha Rao allowed things to drift, without

taking charge of the situation. He made his first big

mistake when he allowed his Cabinet to divide on this

issue. One day in 1972, Ministers from the Andhra

region assembled in the chambers of Sagi

Suryanarayana Raju, the elderly Minister for Forests,

190

while the Telengana Ministers assembled under the

chairmanship of P.V.Narasimha Rao, and in the

meeting chaired by the Chief Minister, the Minister

for Municipal Administration, M.Manik Rao, made

a flippant remark that if the Andhra Ministers want

to get back to their region, he would provide

“municipal lorries” to tranship their luggage free of

cost! A mass agitation began in the Andhra region,

and they looked to B.V.Subba Reddy, then Deputy

Chief Minister, and P. Basi Reddy, senior Minister,

to lead the agitation. Early in December, 1972, a

senior Minister from Krishna district, Kakani

Venkataratnam, died suddenly due to a heart attack

in Vijayawada, but P.V.Narasimha Rao as Chief

Minister was unable to attend the funeral because

protesters threatened to block the runway at

Gannavaram airport near Vijayawada if any

aircraft carrying the Chief Minister were to land

there. All MLAs from Andhra region met in Tirupati

in December 1972 and called for a statewide bandh.

P.V.Narasimha Rao became isolated. Then before

the Bangladesh war, a senior Central Intelligence

191


Officer came to convey a secret message to the Chief

Minister about preventive arrests being made that

night, but he found Lakshmikantamma, MP, with the

Chief Minister, and the Chief Minister brusquely

asked the officer to convey the message in her

presence. When the IPS officer conveyed this

information to Delhi, Indira Gandhi was angry. P.V

did not take the hint, when a Congress High Power

Committee that was constituted in January 1973

recommended imposition of President’s Rule in

Andhra Pradesh. He expanded his cabinet on

January 8, while the State was brought under

President’s Rule on January 13. The separate

agitation ran out of steam towards the end of 1973,

when Jalagam Vengal Rao became Chief Minister.

He tried to heal the wounds of two separatist

agitations by having the first World Telugu

Conference in Hyderabad in 1975.

The two separatist agitations affected the

development of Andhra Pradesh, because of the

political uncertainity it created. There were differing

192

views on the agitation, one that Brahmananda Reddy

was not sensitive to Telengana sentiments, and he did

not have a Deputy Chief Minister from Telengana,

nor have a Telengana Regional Committee of MLAs

from Telengana to look into development effort, nor

follow conventions about allocation of budget funds

equitably between the two regions. He did all these in

1969 but without much result. Similarly, the view is

that the Andhra agitation was spearheaded by

landlords, upset at the promulgation of the Ceiling

on agricultural land act by P.V.Narasimha Rao. But

this act was promulgated all over the Country

around the same time with small variations as

between the States. P.V.Narasimha Rao went into a

political hybernation from 1973 until he was made

AICC General Secretary and later a Minister in

Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet. In 1984 elections, he was

defeated at Hanamkonda as a Union Minister, but he

entered Rajiv Gandhi’s Cabinet as he was elected

from Ramtek in Maharashtra, the second

constituency from where he entered the Lok Sabha.

After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991,

193


P.V.Narasimha Rao went on to become Prime

Minister and served the nation for five years. The

two agitations threw up a new band of leaders, such

as Mallikarjun from Telengana and M.Venkiah

Naidu from Andhra.

By 1980s, the Congress was the only credible political

force in Andhra Pradesh. At the end of the

Telengana armed struggle in 1952, the Communist

Party of India emerged as a big political force,

because the CPI’s Ravi Narayana Reddy won with a

margin bigger than Nehru’s, from the Nalgonda

seat. In the 1955 elections held for 196 seats in the

Andhra region, the CPI polled 31.13 per cent vote but

won only 15 seats, because the Congress entered into

seat adjustments with the Krishikar Lok Party of

N.G.Ranga and Gowthu Latchanna, the Praja

Socialist Party and Praja Party, winning a formidable

majority, the Congress winning 119 seats, the KLP 22

and PSP 13 seats. This Assembly had a seven year

term. Elections were held for 101 constituencies in

Telengana region in 1957, and here the CPI forged an

194

alliance and contested under the People’s Democratic

Front banner, polling 25 per cent vote and winning 22

seats. After the split of 1964, the two Communist

Parties share in votes came down to about two per

cent each in later elections.

The fact that dissident Congressmen were the main

Opposition in Andhra region was proved by the 1967

elections to Assembly, when 68 of them won as

Independents polling 26.5 per cent of the votes. The

Congress won 165 seats with a 45.3 per cent vote.

The Swatantra party put up a good performance

with 29 seats and a vote share of 9.8 per cent. But the

mystery clears when the vote is seen to be a dissident

vote. In the 1967 elections held simulteneously for

Lok Sabha and State Assembly, Damodaram

Sanjiviah as All India Congress President, contested

for Lok Sabha from Kurnool, but in the seven

Assembly segments, he did not accomodate one

single Reddy follower of Kotla Vijayabhaskara

Reddy, then the powerful Chairman of Zilla Parishad

and a staunch follower of Brahmananda Reddy.

195


Vijayabhaskara Reddy set up his own candidates

under the Swatantra symbol, which was the “star”,

and these candidates were called “chukka (star)

Congress” nominees!. Sanjivayya and his nominees

were all defeated by Vijayabhaskara Reddy’s men.

Brahmananda Reddy later rewarded Vijayabhaskara

Reddy with a Cabinet berth, made him first the

Minister for Cooperation and later the Minister for

Finance.

The 1972 elections presented a unique picture, again

showing the bankruptcy of the Opposition parties.

After Brahmananda Reddy’s exit, the groups in the

Congress realigned, and 18 MLAs won without

contest, including four from Kurnool district, because

of the understanding between Congress factions.

Brahmananda Reddy was effectively neutralised,

because he could not harm the party though all his

prominent followers, including Vijayabhaskara

Reddy, Seelam Sidda Reddy, Ronda Narapa Reddy

and Kamatam Ram Reddy were denied party tickets.

Congress thus became a monolith organisation by

196

the 1980s, and to take such an organisation head on

was a mighty task. But NTR was a film star new to

politics, and he took the plunge with a certain

amount of self confidence and determination.

197


For the people of Andhra Pradesh who were governed

by the Congress since Independence, the emergence

of N.T.Rama Rao on the political scene in 1982 was

a big event, but no one thought at that time that

NTR was going to take over power from the

Congress the following year. The youth were

enthused, and they flocked to his public meetings, but

it looked as if a powerful Opposition Party had

emerged on the political scene and nothing more.

NTR spoke the idiom that the people understood, his

face was well known to the crowds because he was

the hero in 295 Telugu films, most of which were

successful at the box office, and he came at the right

time to challenge the Congress’s supremacy in the

State’s politics. His whirlwind tour of the State

started drawing bigger and bigger crowds, and as

1982 was coming to a close, it was clear that NTR

was taking the state by storm.

In February, 1982, Rajiv Gandhi came to Hyderabad,

while he was General Secretary of All India Congress

Committee, and was received with big fanfare by the

The beginning of Telugu Desam

198

Chief Minister, T.Anjiah, and a host of Congress

leaders. There was pellmell at the airport, and when

a group of leaders went up to the aircraft, to receive

the visitor with garlands, Rajiv Gandhi flew into a

rage, and asked: “Is this a tamasha? Why did you

allow all these people near the aircraft?”. So saying,

Rajiv Gandhi walked in a huff to the Indian Airlines

counter, threatening to buy a ticket for a return

flight to Delhi. A tearful Anjiah tried to explain that

that was the normal way of showing affection, but

Rajiv Gandhi was in no mood to listen. He then went

to a special aircraft to go to Tirupati for worship in

the temple, but did not allow Anjiah to accompany

him. Anjiah was left to sulk in his chambers at the

Secretariat. Rajiv Gandhi returned to Hyderabad

that evening, and he then pacified Anjiah. The

Telugu press published a series of pictures showing

the humiliation of the Chief Minister in sequence.

There was widespread public resentment at the way

Anjiah was treated by Rajiv Gandhi, who at that

time was the son of the Prime Minister and did not

hold any public office. The Assembly was

199


summoned for the Budget session, but under

instructions from Delhi, it was cut short to last a

week only for the Governor’s address. The

Opposition in the House fully sympathised with

Anjiah, and at the instance of P.Sundarayya, the

stalwart CPI (M) leader, the House unanimously

adopted a motion of thanks for the Governor without

any amendments or interruptions, by way of

expressing solidarity with the Chief Minister. After

the session was over, Anjiah resigned in anguish.

The manner in which Bhavanam Venkataram Reddy

was chosen, as successor to Anjiah, made the

process of chosing a leader a complete farce. Kona

Prabhakara Rao and N.Janardhana Reddy contested

for the post, and for the first time in such contests,

ballots were distributed among MLAs to test the rival

candidates’ strengths. But the MLAs were unwilling

to chose a leader by themselves, because Janardhana

Reddy’s followers thought Kona Prabhakara Rao’s

followers had advance notice of the contest and

mobilised their MLAs in strength while some of

200

Janardhana Reddy’s MLAs were out of town.

Ultimately, both the groups left the choice to Indira

Gandhi, as was the case in every leadership election

in the past. She was on a boat ride in Dacca on the

day she was supposed to have been consulted by the

two Congress (I) observers who came to assess the

strength of rival contenders in Hyderabad, and

finally, the name of Bhavanam Venkatrama Reddy

was announced as the Prime Minister’s choice. There

were daily reports from Delhi about the way

Congressmen from Hyderabad, camping in Delhi,

were fighting it out among themselves to impress the

“Congress High Command”. Bhavanam was a dark

horse, he and the deputy Chief Minister,

C.Jagannadha Rao, were both Members of

Legislative Council, and the first and last time that

an MLC was chosen to become Chief Minister.

At that time, NTR came up with a slogan to cash in

on the public disenchantment with Congress politics.

“Our Telugu self-respect is being daily butchered on

the streets of Delhi”, NTR said. “We will be

201


nobody’s branch office. They go to Delhi to seek

permission to transfer a clerk in Tehsildar’s office.

The Congress (I) of today has nothing to do with the

Congress of Mahatma Gandhi. It split into as many

letters as there are in the alphabet. Indira Congress!

Quit Andhra Pradesh”, NTR would say.

NTR was born in Nimmakuru village in Krishna

district on May 28, 1923. His father was Lakshmiah

Chowdhary, but NTR went in adoption to his uncle,

father’s brother, Ramiah Chowdhary, who had no

children. NTR went to school at Nimmakuru and

Vijayawada, and took a B.A. degree from Andhra

Christian College in Guntur in 1947. He was selected

in a Madras Public Service Commission examination

and appointed as a Sub-Registrar on a salary of

Rs 190 per month. After he entered service, he got

an offer to act in a film called Mana Desam (Our

Nation) directed by L.V.Prasad, and he chose films as

his career. He had married a cousin, Basava

Tarakam, in 1942 while still in College.

His second chance was as hero in B.A.Subba Rao’s

202

film, Palleturi pilla (a village girl). L.V.Prasad then

signed a contract with NTR for two years, and

produced films such as Pathala Bhairavi that were

box office hits. There was no looking back for NTR

from then on, and his films have become classics,

such as “Lava Kusa” and “Maya Bazaar”, a film

about Sasirekha’s marriage to Abhimanyu, which

ran for 75 weeks each. NTR devoted the next 30

years to films. Just before he entered politics, he went

to the matam of Sri Pothuluri Veera Brahmam, a seer

of the 19th Century in Cuddapah district, who

predicted the future in his “Kala gnanam”

(knowledge of time). One of Veerabrahmam’s

predictions was that “the figures you see on the stage

will one day rule the land”, a prediction about actors

in street plays becoming politicians and ruling the

State. Visitors to this matam are invited to try the

wooden sandals worn by the seer, and for NTR it was

a perfect fit, and the matadhipathi told NTR that he

was destined for a great future. NTR made a film on

Veera Brahmam, and this was released after a delay

of a year caused by the Censor, who objected to NTR

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showing M.G.Ramachandran becoming Chief

Minister of Tamilnadu, and Ronald Reagan

becoming President of United States, by way of

fulfilling Veerabrahmam’s predictions about actors

on the stage. The Censor, as well as the Congress,

thought that the picture was subtle way of projecting

NTR as a future Chief Minister. NTR approached

the Madras High Court and had the visuals retained.

The film became a box office hit, though it was

released after he became Chief Minister. A reservoir

has come up at Brahmamgari matam in Cuddapah

district, as part of the Telugu ganga project.

NTR was an egoistic actor who dictated terms to his

producers and stars, but he shone in the roles of

Rama, Krishna and Duryodana, which endeared

him to the Telugu people wherever they were, and this

particular aspect of his film career stood him in good

stead when he entered politics.

NTR had quaint views of social issues. At a

function in Hyderabad in 1976, when the film

Thathamma kala (great grandmother’s dream) was

204

given an award, NTR asked, in the presence of

Jalagam Vengal Rao, Chief Minister, whether Sri

Krishna, Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath

Tagore would have been born if their parents had

practised family planning and limited their children

to two. His view was that land reforms were

unnecessary, because fragmentation of land holdings

would reduce yields.

It was left to Nadendla Bhaskara Rao, a Minister in

Dr M.Channa Reddy and T.Anjiah’s Cabinets, who

was unceremoniously stripped of his important

portfolios by both Chief Ministers, to recognise the

potential of NTR to found a regional party. Baskara

Rao talked to NTR and encouraged him to enter

politics. Bhaskara Rao’s assessment was that the

Congress was losing ground very fast in Andhra

Pradesh, but Congress faced no real challenge from

the established Opposition parties. The Opposition

parties lost credibility, because at the end of each

general elections, they migrated to the ruling Party

and settled there. Though NTR was new to politics,

205


his face was familiar to every man, woman and child

in the State, and NTR could effectively convey a

message. There was need for someone with a

charisma to pull a major upset in elections.

NTR travelled with the Chief Minister-designate,

Bhavanam Venkatram, on February 24, 1982, in the

official car, to the Raj Bhavan for the swearing in

ceremony of the Chief Minister and was impressed

with the pomp and show. NTR spent only about five

minutes in the Raj Bhavan lawns and was greeted by

the new Cabinet ministers. He started to interact

with people who were in a position to influence the

politics of the State. One of them was Cherukuri

Ramoji Rao, who was the Editor of Eenadu Telugu

daily, which had already made a big impact on the

media scene with its innovative get up, distribution

network and gathering of news. Ramoji Rao brought

professionalism to the production of a newspaper.

While the 70-year old Andhra Patrika, a respected

name in Telugu journalism of those days, was printed

on a letter press, with the deadline for a dak edition

206

at 2pm, that was sent by bus to Kurnool for

distribution the next morning, Ramoji Rao printed

his Eenadu at midnight and sent the bundles by car to

Kurnool, to reach the reader by 5 am. Telugu

newspapers did not build adequate circulations

before the advent of Eenadu, but Ramoji Rao created

a big newspaper reading public in Telugu. By 2003

Eenadu had a circulation of 10 lakhs and a

readership of one crore. NTR benefitted by his

association with Ramoji Rao from the very

beginning.

The other Telugu dailies, Andhra Jyothi, Andhra

Bhoomi and Andhra Prabha, were pro-Congress in

their coverage, and Eenadu broke new ground,

projecting the Opposition’s cause and projecting

NTR in a very big way, when everyone was thinking

that NTR was indulging in a gamble that had more

chances of failure than success.

It was in this atmosphere, NTR addressed his first

political press conference on March 21, 1982 at the

Ramakrishna Cine studios in Hyderabad. He merely

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said that after 30 years in the film field, he had

decided to dedicate the rest of his life to uplift the

poor and downtrodden sections of society by fighting

injustice. He was asked about the political party he

was going to establish, its chances, its political

ideology, but NTR neatly refused to answer any

“hypothetical” question. About a week later, NTR

addressed a party workers meeting at the

Legislators’ Hostel in Basheerbagh, in which he

announced that his new party would be called

“Telugu Desam”, and that the party’s colour would

be yellow to symbolise auspiciousness,.

He made his first political announcement of selling

rice at two rupees a kilo to families below poverty

line, at his first public rally at the Nizam College

grounds on April 21 that year. He pledged to supply

mid day meal to school children. If he came to power,

his Government will ensure food, clothing and shelter

to the poor and needy. What is a Government worth

if it cannot provide the basic amenities to the poor

people?, he asked. He made a controversial reference

208

to Tanguturu Prakasam for having bartered away

Bellary “for selfish ends” at the time of the States

Reorganisation in 1956.

The Congress Party’s reaction to NTR was one of

ridicule. G.Venkataswamy, who was the president of

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, called NTR’s

party “kamma desam”, after NTR’s kamma caste,

asserting that NTR was a casteist come to protect his

caste interests. Chandrababu Naidu was a Minister

in Bhavanam’s cabinet, but his own assessment was

that NTR would not be able to defeat the Congress,

though he would emerge as a major Opposition force

in the State. Chandrababu Naidu was asked whether

he would join his father-in-law ‘s political party, and

he replied that he would not, and added that he will

contest against NTR if his Party asked him to do so.

But Congressmen were beginning to see the threat

NTR was posing to them. There were rumblings

within the Congress about Bhavanam Venkatram’s

capacity to effectively counter NTR. The idea of

selling rice at two rupees a kilo was a concept that

209


NTR borrowed from the Dravidian politics. He

knew of the promise C.N.Annadurai made before the

1967 elections in Tamilnadu, at which DMK came to

power, of selling rice at One Rupee per Madras

measure (which was equivalent to about 1.5 kgs).

The DMK did not keep the promise, but for the sake

of record, rice was sold at one rupee per measure for

one month in Coimbatore only.

Kona Prabhakara Rao, as Finance Minister in

Bhavanam’s cabinet, produced an eloborate paper, to

prove how NTR’s promise of two rupees a kilo rice

scheme was a hollow promise, made by a novice

without knowledge of Government’s budgetary

allocations, the extent of subsidy the Government

would be forced to provide, and how such diversion

of funds would seriously affect the State’s Irrigation

and Power programmes. Congress leaders projected

NTR as an upstart who neither understood politics

nor administration, and said that “governing a State

was different from acting as a Chief Minister in a

film”.

210

NTR however became synonymous with the Rs 2 per

kg rice scheme, and is remembered only for this single

programme. When NTR introduced the scheme on

Telugu New Year’s day in March, 1983, the subsidy

came to Rs 33 crores a year. Those days, the issue

price of the Food Corporation of India was Rs 200

per quintal for a coarse variety of rice, Rs 214 for a

fine variety, and the average came to Rs 208. The

handling charges came to Rs 25 per quintal. The

scheme was originally targetted at families below

poverty line, which was Rs 3,600 annual income.

The Government covered 60 lakh families, and the

offtake was 10 lakh tonnes. As the subsidy came to

Rs 33 per quintal, the overall Government subsidy

came to Rs 33 crores. Since the open market price of

rice was Rs 3.50 the scheme was welcomed as a boon

for the poor. S.Jaipal Reddy, the lone Janata MLA

when NTR was Chief Minister, called NTR a

‘complete ignoromous’ for the scheme because no

economist would approve a scheme that was

impractical.

211


In 1982, NTR ignored these criticisms, and was

methodically building his party and contacts. He

published a full page advertisement in Eenadu,

inviting all those wanting to join Telugu Desam to do

so by filling up a proforma printed there, and posting

it to the Party office. People in a village, who were

keen to join the Party, should gather at a village

centre on a particular day, and elect one among them

as President of the village unit, and another as

Secretary, and five others as Members of the

Executive Committee. The newly elected Village

President should communicate these names to the

Party office at the Ramakrishna studios in

Musheerabad. The presidents of about 50 village

units in a Panchayat samithi area, should meet in the

samithi headquarters on a notified date, at which a

representative from the State party headquarters

would be present, and elect one among themselves as

President of the Telugu Desam panchayat samithi

unit. The Presidents of the samithi TDP units have

to elect the president of the district unit of the Party

in the presence of an observer from the State party

212

headquarters. The Presidents of the District and

Panchayat Samithi units of the Party would then

constitute the general body of the Party.

NTR convened the first party mahanadu (general

body) at Tirupati on May 28, 1982, and thereafter,

began an intense familiarisation tour of the State.

What he did was quite new in Andhra Pradesh

politics. He travelled by a van, fitted with a public

address system, two powerful lights to focus on him

when he stood on the top to address a gathering at

night. He had a tractor trailor in tow housing a

generator, and from morning to night, he travelled

from village to village, addressing way side public

meetings from his van. This was the cheapest form

of a campaign, because there was no need to erect a

dias, arrange a public address system, or a lighting

system or mobilise crowds. His van contained all the

facilities to enable him to address a crowd of upto

5,000. Since NTR was coming from the world of

films to politics, people came out of curiosity to see

him, and he had the maximum exposure among

politicians to the Andhra Pradesh public.

213


He chose two Telugu songs as his signature tunes.

One was the song “maa telugu talliki malle poo

danda” (a garland of jasmine for our Telugu mother)

written by Sankarambadi Sundararachari, which is

the normal prayer song in school functions, and

another, “cheyetthi jaikottu Telugoda” (Oh Telugu

man, raise your hand to herald victory ) written by

the Communist Party leader, Vemulapalli Sri

Krishna. These were old songs, but the song maa

telugu talliki was set to music to an attractive tune

and sung with gusto, by the eminent playback singer

P.Suseela and became very popular among the

crowds. About 10 minutes before NTR would enter

a village, a jeep would go round the village playing

the tapes of the two songs and leave, when crowds

would gather on the roadside because they knew

NTR was on the way, and NTR would enter the

village to receive an enthusiastic reception. Nothing

like this happened in Andhra Pradesh political

campaigns before and people were taken in by the

sheer novelty of the whole exercise.

214

NTR had another jeep trailor in his entourage,

which travelled ahead, in which a cook travelled with

cooking vessels to prepare breakfast, lunch and

dinner, while there was a motor mechanic to check

the transmission and electrical systems in the van

with his kit of tools, and another to wash clothes.

The staff would camp separately on the waysides,

make breafast, and hand it over to the driver of the

van in which NTR travelled, and leave for the next

station to prepare lunch. NTR was therefore self-

contained, and he never went to any leader’s house

for lunch or dinner throughout his political career in

the next 13 years. He would drink sodas, not water,

frequently to quench his thirst. He would sit on top

of the van in the hot sun, wiping his face with towel

now and then, without regard for his glamour as a

film star.

NTR would sleep in his van at nights, parked near a

field or near a mango garden . He would bathe

under a roadside tree in the morning, an event widely

covered in the Eenadu. Congress leaders did not like

215


the campaign a bit, and called NTR a “drama rao”,

a man who indulged in gimmicks to hog publicity,

and dismissed him as of no consequence.

Elections to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly were due

in March, 1983, but these were advanced to January,

to prevent NTR from further consolidating his

position. Around September 1982, the Opposition

parties in the State proposed to NTR to have seat

adjustments with them to avoid multi-cornered

contests. The two Communist Parties, the Janata, the

Lok Dal, the Republican Party of India formed a

Progressive Democratic Front, and invited NTR for

talks. NTR and Bhaskara Rao went for the talks, but

they ended in a deadlock, as the PDF set their

demands high, offering 174 seats to NTR , with the

remaining 120 seats for sharing by the five parties in

the PDF. NTR made it clear to them that if at all he

came to power, he should be able to form a

Government on his own, and he did not fancy a

coalition. Since he expected to win only 60 per cent

of the seats he contested, he asked for 250 seats for

216

Telugu Desam, so that he will win atleast 148 seats,

with the remaining 44 seats available for the PDF to

share. The PDF rejected the offer.

George Fernandes was in Hyderabad on 28 October

1982 to form a Hind Mazdoor Panchayat, and he

criticised the PDF leaders for paying obeisance to

NTR “who was arrogant because of the manner in

which he treated senior Opposition leaders in the

State” In the 1978 Assembly elections, the Congress

(I) came to power winning 175 seats on a 38 per cent

vote, while Janata polled 29 per cent and won 60

seats and Congress (R), headed by Brahmananda

Reddy at the national level and Jalagam Vengel Rao,

Chief Minister, polled 17 per cent and won 30 seats.

But the Opposition leaders failed to see that NTR

was about to replace them all first, before he would

defeat the Congress.

K.Vijayabhaskara Reddy succeeded Bhavanam as

Chief Minister in September, 1982, and a fresh wave

of ministry making took place. Now, NTR was

being taken seriously enough, because private

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opinion polls showed that people were looking

forward to the two rupees a kilo rice scheme and mid

day meals programmes. Vijayabhaskara Reddy

suddenly introduced a Congress version of the

subsidised rice programme on November 19, Indira

Gandhi’s birthday, of selling rice at Rs 1.90 per kilo.

There was a big fanfare as the Chief Minister went to

a Fair Price shop where he inaugurated the

programme amidst a glare of publicity. The earlier

Congress (I) criticisms about the rice programme, the

eloborate papers prepared by Kona Prabhakara Rao,

and the ridicule poured on the scheme were all

disowned in a day. Actually only about 50,000 tonnes

of rice was sold this way in Hyderabad and

Vijayawada towns to create an impact to neutralise

NTR’s campaign.

The elections were announced, and suddenly there

was an atmosphere of urgency about countering the

NTR wave. NTR stipulated a condition that any

Congress (I) MLA wanting to join Telugu Desam

should first resign his membership of the Assembly.

218

After Nadendla Bhaskara Rao, three other MLAs did

so to join Telugu Desam, C.Narayana, Gade Rattiah

and Adeyya. Then Nallapareddi Srinivasulu Reddy,

the MLA from Nellore district, came to Telugu

Desam with a big fanfare, walking with his

supporters from his MLA Quarters in Basheerbagh

to the Ramakrishna studios in Musheerabad, a

distance of about five kilometres, and was received

well by NTR. Srinivasulu Reddy described himself as

an Arjuna, and NTR being Krishna, “the two of us

will defeat the Congress (I) Kauravas in the next big

battle”.

NTR continued with his campaign throughout the

length and breadth of the State, covering a distance

of about 43,000 kms in his van, a very stupendous

effort. Only Eenadu gave wide coverage to this

campaign, the other Telugu papers hesitant to take

notice of the big road show, because of their

proprietors’ known tilt towards the Congress (I).

Ramoji Rao went all out to support NTR. NTR was

also helped by the editorial teams of Eenadu to select

219


candidates for the Telugu Desam ticket, because

reporters and contributors of Eenadu in the districts

knew the antecedents of those seeking Telugu Desam

ticket, and helped filter undesirable elements from the

lists. The Eenadu teams also would give talking

points to NTR about the specific problems in each

constituency so that he could mention them in

passing.

The public view was getting crystallised in favour of

Telugu Desam, and Indira Gandhi addressed a series

of campaign meetings to counter the impact. At an

election meeting that she addressed at Nandyal town

in Kurnool district, the Congress (I) candidate, Bojja

Venkata Reddy, asked the crowd dramatically

whether they wanted a “tried and trusted friend of

the weaker sections like Indira Gandhi, or a film

personality that was playing gimmicks to get

publicity”, and the crowd responded, saying that they

wanted NTR!. Indira Gandhi also asked the crowd

to vote for the hand symbol, but here and there across

the crowd, people lifted their bicycles to show their

220

preference, as the bicycle was the election symbol of

Telugu Desam.

Towards the dying moments of the campaign, there

was a clear indication of the shape of events to come.

At Tirupati, Indira Gandhi addressed her last public

meeting. While the Prime Minister was speaking,

word went round the crowd that NTR had entered

the town, and people started leaving Indira Gandhi’s

meeting to see NTR.

NTR won a two thirds majority in the AP Assembly.

The Telugu Desam won 202 seats, on a 44 per cent

popular vote, while the Congress got 60 seats with 33

per cent vote. The two Communist Parties drew a

blank in the entire coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema

regions. The CPI (M) got five seats while the CPI got

four in Telengana districts. The Janata, Lok Dal and

Republican Parties drew a blank. The result was a

complete surprise to the Congress which was

confident of having an edge in a neck-to-neck race.

221


Indira Gandhi had a 20 point programme during the

Emergency, and there were schemes such as the

Integrated Rural Development Programme aimed at

helping the poor among Scheduled Castes to rise

above the poverty line. These programmes however

failed to achieve results mainly because of lack of an

effective monitoring system, and lack of linkages.

The scheme had an unintended impact in the villages,

where the poor belonging to artisan classes, such as

carpenters, weavers, washermen, watched

Government jeeps going to Scheduled Caste slums to

distribute a buffalo, or a handcart or a pumpset

under the 20 point programme. The backward class

artisans thought that Indira Gandhi and the

Congress (I) were neglecting them, though they were

also poor, and this group became the main group to

have supported NTR in the 1983 elections.

222

January 1983 AP Assembly elections

Party Seats won Votes polled %

Telugu Desam 202 98,62,540 46.6

Congress (I) 60 71,30,292 33.6

Independents 17 20,90,631 9.8

CPI 4 5,83,048 2.75

CPI (M) 5 4,40,033 2.07

BJP 3 5,51,951 2.61

Janata 1 2,02,417 0.95

Lok Dal - 1,93,880 0.80

After the defeat, the out-going Chief Minister,

Vijayabhaskara Reddy said in a mood of defiance:

“The Congress (I) cannot be wiped out. You are

going go see what role the Party is going to play. It

has always been with the people and it will surely

make an impact”. Kona Prabhakara Rao, the senior

223


Congress (I) leader said he welcomed the idea of

Congress (I) sitting in the Opposition. “The Party

was overtaken by a sense of complacency. And since

it was in power all through, a lot of people joined the

Party for the sake of power. Today they would leave

the Party and only the dedicated cadres will remain.

The chaff will go, and a few years in the Opposition

will really help the Congress to build itself afresh”, he

added.

NTR behaved as if the expected had happened. On

the day the Telugu Desam Legislature Party met at

the Jubilee Hall in Hyderabad to elect NTR as the

leader, Srinivasulu Reddy made the first public

announcement of the Party’s intention to abolish the

Legislative Council. Telugu Desam had no

representation in the 90-member Council while the

Congress (I) had a two third majority, and the

Council could be used to stall legislation.

NTR took his oath of office before a packed Lal

Bahadur stadium on January 9, 1983, striking a new

path once again, because all earlier Chief Ministers

224

were sworn in only at the Raj Bhavan. He enjoyed

the honeymoon he was having with the people,

whose expectations were roused. He went to Delhi

for a discussion on a plan size, and enjoyed the

attention he got in the nation’s capital. On January

24, he issued an executive order removing all non-

official Chairmen and Directors in about 35 State

Government undertakings, all Congress appointees.

He said that telephones rendered free should be

frozen, and cars and furniture used by the Chairmen

and Directors, should be returned to the Guest

House department for further allotment.

NTR was new to both politics and administration,

but he was in a hurry to act, thinking that the people

would ask him for an explanation for what he had

done with such a massive mandate. He made a

major mistake while taking a series of decisions, at a

crucial cabinet meeting on February 8. There were 32

items on the agenda, and a 33rd item was added at

the last minute, of reducing the retirement age of

Government servants from 58 years to 55. The age of

225


retirement was enhanced from 55 to 58 years by Dr

Channa Reddy in October 1979, and NTR wanted to

reduce it in order to fulfil his promise to unemployed

youth to provide jobs.

The Ministers and officials were tired when the

Cabinet discussed the 32 subjects for about four

hours, and anyway there was no one in the cabinet to

advise NTR to observe restraint, instead of

antagonising all sections of people at the same time.

The issue of reducing the retirement age was taken

up, and NTR asked Chief Secretary, B.N.Raman,

whether Government had the power to reduce it.

Raman replied that if a Government had the power

to enhance it, it would follow it had an equal power

to reduce it as well. The Cabinet then approved the

proposal.

When NTR revealed the Cabinet decisions in the

chronological order, the press persons were also

getting tired because all decisions were important,

but the last one about retirement age electrified the

atmosphere, because the decision had far reaching

226

consequences which the Chief Minister obviously did

not envisage. A barrage of questions were posed to

him, such as how many employees would retire and

what would be the commitment to Government by

way of additional pension per year. NTR had no

answers. The Feb 8 Cabinet also decided to initiate

steps to abolish the Legislative Council, to introduce

a bill to cancel pensions being paid to former

Legislators, approved a bill to provide equal property

rights to daughters along with sons in their parents’

property, and extending ban on capitation fees to

professional colleges run by minorities. The Cabinet

also decided to close down all the 5 canteens in the

Secretariat, except during the lunch hour, under the

assumption the employees spent most of their time

there, and to remove attendance registers from the

departments at 10.40 am, giving only a 10 minutes

grace period for employees to report for duty.

The next day the Chief Minister addressed

Secretariat employees who were sulking that the

attendance registers were removed by 10.35 am itself,

227


forcing them to forego half a day’s casual leave for a

five minute late coming. No one cheered NTR as he

came to address them, but when he said he ought to

have retired 5 years ago as per his new retirement age

policy, about 25 per cent of the crowd cheered him,

but he won his audience over, when he declared he

will not allow anyone to harass them if they worked

sincerely six hours per day as per rules.

Then a serious problem about the retirement age

came to surface. By Rule 2 of the Fundamental Rules

governing service conditions of employees, the

Government was empowered to alter service

conditions but a proviso to this Rule said that the

Government “cannot alter the Rules to the

disadvantage of the employees already in service”.

The Rule position was not brought to the notice of

the Chief Minister when the Cabinet was discussing

the issue. Why was it not done? There was no

answer. But the political atmosphere was so tense in

the first months after NTR came to power, that the

Chief Secretary fearing some action against him,

228

went on leave, and he left Hyderabad in a hurry in a

car, and at Jadcherla, caught a bus to Bangalore as

if someone was in persuit! (Raman came back as

Chief Secretary only when Nadendla Bhaskara Rao

assumed charge as Chief Minsiter on August 16, 1984

and again went on leave a month later when NTR

returned to power)

The age of retirement was reduced through a

Government Order MS 36 dated February 8, 1983.

The Governor promulgated a Ordinance to keep the

proviso to Rule 2 of the Civil Services Conduct rules

in abeyance. A total of 19 associations of Non

Gazetted Officers went to Supreme Court challenging

the order. The Governor promulgated an Ordinance

on April 10 that year, stating that all amendments

made to the Fundamental Rules, and particularly the

amendments made by GO MS 36, and all

notifications issued in this regard, “shall be and shall

be deemed always to have been made validly and

shall have effect notwithstanding anything to the

contrary in the proviso to the said Rule 2, as if this

229


Ordinance were in force on 8 February 1983” . On

April 9, NTR announced government’s decision to

ban private practice by Government Doctors.

On February 28, a total of 30,000 Government

employees retired from service. In the Irrigation

department, 12 out of 13 Chief Engineers, 47 out of

72 Superintending Engineers, 125 out of 540

Executive Engineers retired, while 130 Civil Surgeons

out of 400 retired. At a Kurnool Municipal Council

meeting, a Town Planning Officer handed over

charge to a supervisor and left half way through a

budget meeting, as he retired from service. A

retirement at three weeks notice was a major problem

of adjustment and suffering for the thousands of

employees which NTR did not foresee.

The Supreme Court upheld Government’s Order

reducing the age of retirement, by the end of 1984,

but before that, in August 1984 when NTR ‘s

Government was dismissed and Nadendla Bhaskara

Rao usurped power with Congress (I) support, the

Government restored the age of retirement to 58

230

years. After his return to power in September, 1984,

NTR allowed the 58 years of retirement age to

continue at the suggestion of leaders of the CPI, CPI

(M), Janata Dal and BJP, who supported him in his

first political crisis in August, 1984. Government paid

in full the three years of salary and allowances of the

30,000 employees who were retired and sent home in

February 1983, and those that retired every month

after that date till their 58th year.

NTR’s first year in office was marked by a number of

far reaching changes in the administrative set up. He

abolished the posts of Karanams and Munsiffs in

Andhra region, and the Patel and Patwari setup in

Telengana districts, a move that became instantly

popular, the heriditary rights of temple priests and

trustees, the taluq set up, replacing the 330 taluqs

with 1,100 mandals, each mandal representing about

20 to 30 villages compared to 60 in earlier taluqs.

Then one morning, he had the Minister for Labour,

M.Ramachandra Rao, arrested on a corruption

charge when the man accepted a bribe of Rs 20,000

231


from a decoy posing as a representative of a factory.

Ramachandra Rao was dismissed from the Cabinet.

NTR created a big impact, but the big image he

acquired as a lone person to defeat the Congress (I)

was dented, by the Non Gazetted officers who took

out processions throughout the State, ridiculing

NTR. The NGOs took out rallies with a man posing

as NTR who made theatrical noises to attract

attention. The daily Eenadu contributed to this

atmosphere by reporting that NTR vowed to “skin

NGOs alive” at a closed door meeting at Kurnool, a

remark NTR repeatedly denied having made. NTR

was singularly unlucky in having ill equipped

bureaucrats, who either deliberately or out of

ignorance, gave him wrong advice, while he had none

to advise him at the political level.

232

In NTR’s first Cabinet, Nadendla Bhaskara Rao

was the Minister for Finance, and described himself

as the “co-pilot”. Bhaskara Rao used to be present

at every meeting chaired by NTR in the Secretariat.

In four months time, their relationship soured. NTR

was also told that Bhaskara Rao had a role in

withholding information about the rule position

about the age of retirement of Government

employees from the Cabinet, which would have

prevented or delayed the decision to reduce the age of

retirement.

From then on, Bhaskara Rao was rarely seen in the

Chief Minister’s chambers. Chandrababu Naidu,

NTR’s son-in-law, who contested on the Congress (I)

ticket and lost in the elections, started to attend to

Telugu Desam Party work at NTR’s house.

Parvataneni Upendra, an Officer in the Indian

Railways at Calcutta, resigned his post and came to

Telugu Desam, in July 1982, started to play a major

role in the Party as its General Secretary.

Bhaskara Rao saw that he was being sidelined, and

NTR’s First Political Crisis

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in one of his trips to Delhi as Finance Minister, in the

beginning of 1984, he had a meeting with Indira

Gandhi and Pranab Mukherji, then Union Finance

Minister. Bhaskara Rao said he had the support of

the 90 Telugu Desam MLAs, and if the 60-Member

Congress group in the Assembly supports him, he can

replace NTR as Chief Minister. Indira Gandhi was

non-commital, but Pranab Mukherji suggested that

Bhaskara Rao should consolidate his hold before

striking. The Prime Minister’s “backroom boys” as

her advisors were called those days, were however

enthusiastic about the prospect of an internal revolt

to get rid of NTR.

In July, 1984, NTR went to the United States for a

heart bypass surgery. He was away for a month.

Bhaskara Rao decided that the time had come to

implement his plan, and replace NTR before the

latter returned from US. He spread word among his

close associates that NTR was planning to drop him

from the Cabinet, and a letter signed by a sizeable

number of MLAs would prevent NTR from acting in

234

haste. About 90 MLAs signed the letter and this was

projected as the support he had from among Telugu

Desam MLAs for his coup. He had to work in

confidence, lest NTR or his supporters sense that

something was going on in Bhaskara Rao’s

chambers.

Bhaskara Rao’s strategy was to submit this list of 90

MLAs to the Governor, Ramlal, on August 14, have

the Leader of Congress (I) Legislature Party give a

letter pledging support to him, and get himself sworn

in as the Chief Minister, so that he would address the

Independence day parade instead of NTR. A major

political upheaval was expected, such as an Andhra

Pradesh bandh and Police firing in a dozen towns, but

these incidens could be controlled in a week or 10

days time, by imposing a curfew and detaining a

number of NTR supporters. Bhaskara Rao assessed

that without power, NTR would be confined to his

house to nurse the humiliation.

NTR was informed about the signatures while in US,

but he did not take it seriously because he was not

235


planning to drop Bhaskara Rao from the Cabinet.

But an Intelligence Officer explained to him that this

was the plan to dethrone him. NTR did not believe it,

and in the normal course, NTR returned to

Hyderabad on August 14. Bhaskara Rao was on

hand to receive him with a bouquet. When NTR

reached home at 2 pm, a letter was delivered to him

from Bhaskara Rao demanding action against the

Chief Secretary, Shravan Kumar, for inaugurating a

new wing of the Secretariat while “Number 2” in the

Government, Bhaskara Rao was available to perform

the function.

NTR’s advisors including Chandrababu Naidu and

Upendra, who knew of the signatures that Bhaskara

Rao had collected, sensed an impending crisis. They

sent word to all Telugu Desam MLAs to assemble at

NTR’s house in Abids at 3 pm as the Chief Minister

was going to address them. There was an emergency

Cabinet meeting at 5 pm in which the Chief Minister

announced his decision to drop Bhaskara Rao from

the Cabinet. But Bhaskara Rao resigned first.

236

Time was of great essence for Bhaskara Rao’s plan

to succeed on August 14. Bhakara Rao was in a

hurry to be sworn in, but he had only 55 MLAs with

him, and he should first get hold of the 36 others on

whose support the success of his plan depended, and

he was confident that others would come when he

became Chief Minister. Some Congress leaders from

Andhra Pradesh conveyed to the PM’s Office that

Bhaskara Rao did not physically have the 91 TDP

MLAs with him, and that the number might be

between 60 and 70. The Congress leaders in Delhi

therefore waited for some positive proof about the

actual figure before dismissing NTR on August 14.

Bhaskara Rao lost his chance on August 14 itself,

when the Congress High Command dithered, and

waited for one more day to enable Bhaskara Rao to

physically assemble his 90 odd MLAs for a head

count by the Governor.

While Bhaskara Rao was waiting for a Delhi call,

NTR’s advisors acted very fast. The MLAs who

came to NTR’s house were shifted to the

237


Ramakrishna Studios, owned by NTR in

Musheerabad, in special busses, saying that the venue

of the meeting had suddenly to be shifted.

Simulteneously, Police pickets were posted at the

MLAs’ New Hostel in Basheerbagh and old Hostel in

Hyderguda to prevent outsiders from entering.

Bhaskara Rao was unable to establish contact with

the Telugu Desam MLAs who were expected to

support him.

On August 15, Hyderabad was agog with rumours

that NTR was going to be dismissed, and Bezawada

Papi Reddy, Vice President of TDP, who unfurled the

national flag at the TDP office, warned of a big

agitation . NTR spoke at the Secunderabad Parade

grounds after taking a salute, and in the evening, he

came to the Raj Bhavan for the At Home hosted by

the Governor, Ram Lal. Pro- Congress (I) guests were

elated at the prospect of NTR going out of power,

and they were talking about how off colour NTR

looked that evening. The issue was whether NTR’s

dismissal would come about that night or the next

238

morning. On Aug 16 morning, Bhaskara Rao

paraded his 55 MLAs along with some functionaries

from Telugu Desam party office, some Personal

Assistants to Ministers and car drivers, and

convinced a willing Governor that he had 91 MLAs

with him.

Around that time, the MLAs belonging to CPI, CPI

(M), BJP, Janata joined the TDP MLAs at the

Ramakrishna studios as NTR was speaking to them

about Bhaskara Rao’s deception, when the

Governor’s letter, dismissing his Government, came.

The Governor said he was convinced that NTR had

lost the majority support in the Assembly and

therefore was obliged to dismiss his Government

forthwith. As the letter was read out, the non-Telugu

Desam leaders suggested that the MLAs should be

presented to the Press. Since reporters and

photographers of all major newspapers were already

there, NTR called out each MLA by name, and the

MLA stood up and was counted. There were in all

145 MLAs belonging to Telugu Desam and 19

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belonging to other Opposition parties, making it a

total of 164, which is a clear majority in a House of

294.

After some consultations, the MLAs decided to go in

a group to the Raj Bhavan and present themselves to

the Governor. NTR travelled in the Chief Minister’s

car with full police escort, while the Ministers and

MLAs travelled in busses. NTR’s car was allowed

into the Raj Bhavan, but the buses were stopped a

furlong away, near the Administrative Staff College

of India gate. The MLAs got down and ran towards

the Raj Bhavan where they were stopped by a strong

Police contingent, headed by the Police

Commissioner, K.Vijayarama Rao. After some

heated arguments, the MLAs were let in.

The Governor refused to see them, as he was

preparing to go to the Durbar Hall to have Nadendla

Bhaskara Rao sworn in as Chief Minister. The MLAs

then squatted on the steps, and prevented the

Governor from moving further. The Governor was

helpless, while Bhaskara Rao and his MLAs were

240

waiting in Durbar Hall, waiting to be sworn in, and

there were feverish consultations as to how to deal

with the situation. Then, the Governor ordered the

Police Commissioner to arrest all the MLAs including

NTR. This took some time, as the Ministers in

NTR’s cabinet got on to a Police truck, NTR used a

wooden stool to climb into the Police van. All these

MLAs were taken to the Police Control Room. Since

the MLAs insisted they should be arrested, the Police

prepared a First Information Report in which the

names of all the 164 MLAs were listed – another

proof that NTR still commanded a majority. There

was another point that NTR scored, because his

photograph sitting on a Police van appeared on Page

1 of all newspapers while Bhaskara Rao’s swearing

in appeared in inside pages.

Bhaskara Rao explained that he split the Telugu

Desam to save Andhra Pradesh from the clutches of a

novice in politics who allowed his sons-in-law and

other family members play a major role in

administration, who did not allow internal

241


democracy inside the Party and who humiliated the

party workers. He said NTR adopted a

confrontationist attitude towards Congress (I) at the

Centre, while the public mandate was to develop the

State with Centre’s cooperation, like MGR did in

Tamilnadu.

At a public meeting held in Exhibition Grounds with

NGOs and Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen supporters,

the two sections that fully backed him, Bhaskara Rao

made the charge that NTR was “an anti-national in

league with communal forces to disrupt the unity

and integrity of the Country” He said that NTR was

in touch with several foreign missions. The theme

that NTR represented anti-National forces was used

by the Congress (I) before the 1983 elections, but the

people took no notice, but Bhaskara Rao took up

that theme again.

Entire Andhra Pradesh became tense with a state

wide bandh taking place to protest the “murder of

democracy” and 17 people were killed in Police

firings in Anantapur and Chittoor districts. A State

242

wide bandh was called by all Opposition parties

against the “murder of democracy”. NTR said he

would go to the people all across the State.

Bhaskara Rao quickly took a series of decisions to

undo what NTR did in the previous one year. The

age of retirement was restored at 58 years, pensions

were restored to former legislators, a Rs 10 crore

development fund was given to Old City of

Hyderabad, mainly to placate the two sections of

people that supported him, the NGOs and Majlis

Ittehadul Muslimeen groups. He announced that

three marks would be added to students who failed in

SSC public examinations.

All over the Country there were angry reactions at the

way Bhaskara Rao was allowed to form a

Government with Congress (I) support. In Delhi,

leaders of 19 Opposition parties announced that they

would organise a “Bharat Bandh” to protest at the

events in Andhra Pradesh. They demanded the

removal of Governor, Ram Lal, and dismissal of the

243


“puppet Government of Bhaskara Rao”. Charan

Singh presided over the meeting attended by Jagjivan

Ram, Chandra Sekhar, A.B.Vajpayee, Ch.Rajeswara

Rao (CPI), M.Basavapunniah (CPIM), Sharad

Pawar, Tridip Chowdhary (RSP), Chitta Basu

(Forward Bloc), B.C.Kamble (RPI), Maneka Gandhi

among others. Karnataka Chief Minister,

Ramakrishna Hegde and NTR, who were to attend,

did not, because the planes they had to take were

inordinately delayed by bogus calls saying bombs

were planted in the planes.

The Opposition leaders criticised the brazenly illegal

act of the Andhra Pradesh Governor, “in collusion

with the Union Government, in a daylight conspiracy

to deprive the people of Andhra Pradesh of their

right to have a Government of their choice, as

reflected in the electoral verdict, in total violation and

disregard of all democratic norms”. They said this

was a link in the chain of events in the removal of

duly elected Governments in Pondicherry and Sikkim

earlier, and more brazenly, in Jammu and Kashmir,

244

holding the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, as “the

principal culprit”. They said that they saw evidence

of an attempt to “superimpose a nakedly

authoritarian and dynastic system, destroying our

democracy and social edifice”.

NTR decided to take his contingent of MLAs to

Delhi and present them before the President, Zail

Singh. August 18 was a tense day because there were

reports suggesting that about 500 supporters of

Bhaskara Rao would storm the Ramakrishna studios

and physically take away the MLAs. Supporters of

Opposition parties also mobilised volunteers to

guard the gate from inside the studio.

At about 11 pm, a Deputy Commissioner of Police,

K.Arvind Rao, arrived to interview about 20 MLAs

whose families alleged that they were held captive

inside the studios. The officer was permitted to meet

these MLAs and each of them said that they were

with NTR on their own free will. The super fast

Andhra Pradesh Express would leave at 6.45 am from

Secunderabad, but the NTR MLAs planned to reach

245


the station before 6 am and so started in a convoy of

buses. But the buses were taken to Ramgopalpet

Police Station where an Assistant Commissioner of

Police wanted to interrogate another group of MLAs

allegedly held against their will in the studios. The

Speaker, Thangi Sathyanarayana, who was with

NTR till then, wrote to the Station Superintendent

and Director General of Police to provide reserved

accomodation to the MLAs and security during the

journey. After the interview by the ACP was over,

when they reached the station, they were told by the

Station Superintendent that all reservations were

cancelled, but they attached two bogies to the train,

which was already full with regular passengers. The

MLAs managed to squeeze into these two bogies, as

regular passengers vacated their seats in favour of

the MLAs.

The train reached 11 hours late at 6.10 pm at Delhi,

while their appointment with the President was at 6

pm. The President however received them the next

day. At Delhi, the group of 145 Telugu Desam MLAs

246

took a photograph outside the Rasthrapathi Bhavan,

and this was published in the press. There were 36

MLAs in this group, claimed by Bhaskara Rao as his

supporters in his list of 91 MLAs.

NTR’s plan was to take his MLAs along with him for

an intensive tour of Andhra Pradesh, but on the

advise of some Opposition leaders, these MLAs were

flown to Bangalore and housed in a hotel at

Chamundeswari Hills near Mysore.

On August 28, Indira Gandhi met Congress MPs

from Andhra Pradesh, and said that the BJP and RSS

were exploiting the situation, to malign her and her

party for deriving some advantage during the coming

elections. She said she was astonished that the

Opposition was disbelieving her word that she was

not consulted by the Governor, but she was pained to

see that even some of her party colleagues had fallen

prey to “this whispering campaign of

disinformation”. She wanted the Congress (I) to

support Bhaskara Rao, but gave no indication as to

what she would do if he failed to prove his majority

247


in the Assembly, whether she would impose

President’s Rule or let NTR be reinstated.

Indira Gandhi distanced herself from the crisis in

Andhra Pradesh, by telling Parliament that her

Government had no inkling of, or influence on, Ram

Lal, or of the decision of the State party unit to back

Bhaskara Rao.

The Governor, Ramlal was replaced, and Shankar

Dayal Sharma, came as Governor on August 29. He

arrived from Delhi at 8.30 am, was sworn in as

Governor at 10.30 am, and an hour later, he had 17

new Ministers inducted into the Bhaskara Rao

cabinet. P.Upendra, General Secretary of Telugu

Desam, was present at the Raj Bhavan when the

Governor was sworn in, and he introduced himself to

the new Governor. Sharma told him to stay on for a

discussion but Upendra was unwilling to attend the

cabinet expansion and wanted to go. Sharma took

Upendra aside, and told him that he would do justice,

within earshot of the press covering the function.

248

The 17 new Ministers that Bhaskara Rao inducted

included the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, who

crossed floor at the last moment, leaving the

Assembly without an head when Bhaskara Rao’s

majority was to be tested. A pro-tem Speaker had to

be appointed, and this would give time for Bhaskara

Rao to manipulate the MLAs with whom he was

unable to establish contact, and to prolong the one

month deadline that Governor Ram Lal gave

Bhaskara Rao to prove his majority.

On September 4, after meeting the Governor,

Bhaskara Rao announced that the Assembly would

meet on September 11 to enable Bhaskara Rao to test

his majority. A group of 8 MPs and 9 legislators

belonging to Congress (I) told Sharma that first, the

legislators “held hostage” should be freed.

Otherwise, no purpose would be served by convening

the Assembly. The dust should be allowed to settle

and MLAs should be free, and Governor should hold

talks with MLAs individually to ascertain their

views, these Congress MPs and MLAs said.

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The convening of the Assembly was regarded as a

“victory for the people” by NTR. But the problem

was the threat of arrest or harassment of the MLAs

arriving from Karnataka, and NTR wrote to the

Governor and pro tem Speaker, M.Baga Reddy, to

provide security. The MLAs were coming in a convoy

of buses, accompanied by a six member team of

Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, including

K.F.Rustumji, a former Director General of Border

Security Force and Arun Shourie and Cho

Ramaswamy, Journalists. The Editors Guild also

deputed a team with S.Sahay of Statesman, Kuldip

Nayar and K.Narendra to accompany the MLAs.

NTR indeed fought a remarkable battle. He

underwent a bypass surgery on July 18, arrived in

Hyderabad on August 14 and was dismissed two days

later. He had paraded his 163 MLAs before the press

at Ramakrishna studios on August 16, at Nandi Hills

in Karnataka, before the President Zail Singh in

Delhi and before the people at a public meeting in

Ramlila Grounds in Delhi. He addressed big rallies

250

in Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore and Madras. He

once said: “Doctors asked me to take rest for 20

hours in a day while I am working for 20 hours. What

sustains me is the affection of the people. A man dies

only once, and it is better to day in the cause for

restoration of democracy, rather than like a dog in

the street”.

With power and Congress (I) support on his side,

Bhaskara Rao also was apprehensive, because of the

mobilisation of people planned for Sept 11 in

Hyderabad. Bhasakara Rao failed to show his MLAs

either to the press or to the public. He claimed the

support of 91 Telugu Desam MLAs whom he claimed

to have paraded before the Governor Ram Lal on

August 21, while on the same day, NTR presented his

163 MLAs before the President. The group released

from Delhi showed that the 36 MLAs in Bhaskara

Rao’s list were actually present in Delhi.

On the day of the Assembly session, Bhaskara Rao

claimed the support of 58 MLAs of Congress (I), two

of Rashtriya Sanjay Manch, 5 of MIM and 5

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Independents, taking his over all strength to 127 while

he required atleast 148. His future as Chief Minister

depended on his enticing atleast 21 of the 36 Telugu

Desam MLAs he claimed as his supporters. The

Union Minister for Industry, K.Vijayabhaskara

Reddy, former Chief Minister, Jalagam Vengal Rao,

were actively involved in efforts to ensure that

Bhaskara Rao got his majority.

Congress leaders confidently predicted just before the

crucial Assembly session that there was no question

of NTR coming back to power, and that at worst, the

State would be placed under President’s Rule. They

projected this as a fair conclusion, because both NTR

and Bhaskara Rao would be kept out of power as

two contending parties, while the Congress (I) would

hold the strings from Delhi.

Bhaskara Rao had his own plans to deal with the

Assembly session. On September 9, the annual

ganesh procession day, there was widespread

communal clashes in the old City areas but one khadi

shop in Basheerbagh was set on fire, and taking

252

advantage of the situation, the entire city of

Hyderabad was placed under curfew. This curfew

was to last throughout the five days of Assembly

sessions from September 11. The curfew was mainly

to frustrate the Opposition plans to hold a rally in

support of the restoration of the democracy

movement on September 11.

When the Telugu Desam MLAs arrived from

Karnataka on a convoy of four buses, Bhaskara

Rao’s plan was for the Police to detain the buses

inside Andhra Pradesh border, separate the 40 MLAs

he planned to entice, and take them to an undisclosed

destination for Bhaskara Rao’s men to “manage”

them. These MLAs would be brought straight to the

Assembly the next day. The Police did detain the

convoy at a number of places in Mahbubnagar

district but they were unable to implement the plan

because of the presence of the team from PUCL, a

Minister in Karnataka Government, M.Raghupathi,

and several national Opposition leaders.

The PUCL team said that it had not seen a more

253


blatant, or a more blatantly partisan, use of the

Police to interfere with the legislative process. “We

saw today the most disgraceful attempt by the

Government to disperse the MLAs in small groups

and take them to the places of the Police’s chosing”

The Police deliberately tried to intimidate the MLAs

so that they could precipitate an incident in which

they take further steps, the team said.

The MLAs had to collect their curfew passes from

the Assembly. The convoy of buses was stopped at

Gaganpahad, 11 kms from Hyderabad, and a

Deputy Commissioner of Police told them they have

to travel in Government buses to the Assembly. The

MLAs agreed and arrived in the Assembly at 3 pm.

The MLAs were given food packets brought by

Telugu Desam volunteers inside the Assembly. By that

time, national leaders like E.M.S.Nambudiripad and

Basavapunniah (CPIM), A.B.Vajpayee, Chandra

Rajeswara Rao (CPI), Sharad Pawar (Cong S) among

others also came to the Assembly. After curfew passes

were distributed, theMLAs went to Ramakrishna

studios.

254

On the day the Assembly met on Sept 11, the curfew

restrictions were enforced with a gusto by the City

Police, with 18 barricades placed within a distance

of one kilometre , each barricade manned by 20

armed Policemen. Police checked the passes at a

dozen places before allowing MLAs inside the

building. The entire visitors gallery was kept empty,

and no ML or MLC was allowed even as a visitor.

The Government denied passes to the foreign media

like BBC, on the ground “it is enough if the Indian

press covered the event”, but because they were sore

at the unpleasent coverage the NTR dismissal got

them in the foreign media.

At 11am when the Assembly met, M.Baga Reddy,

protem Speaker, introduced a condolence motion

touching the death of a sitting MLA, but

N.Srinivasulu Reddy rose on a point of order, and

there was an uproar, and the protem Speaker

adjourned the house within two minutes and left. A

little later, smoke was seen from a carpet near the

second row where Ministers sat. Later two Ministers

of Bhaskara Rao said this was the work of a pro-

255


NTR member, Devineni Nehru, while floor leaders of

Opposition parties it was the work of the Minister,

T.Jeevan Reddy, and the Ministers were only allowed

inside the House without frisking and he brought the

material to set the carpet on fire.

NTR met the protem Speaker after the House was

adjourned, to demand that his supporters in Telugu

Desam should be seated in a separate block, but the

protem Speaker rejected the demand. It was clear that

Bhaskara Rao wanted the Assembly session

prolonged, so that he could have an opportunity to

manipulate and obtain a legislative majority.

The Legislature Secretariat made use of the fire to

further tighten security, and asked MLAs to come one

hour before the scheduled time for thorough security

check. A 15-member anti-sabotage unit of the Army

was kept near the Assembly apart from the anti-

explosion unit of the State Police. That afternoon,

Police raided NTR’s house at Abids and arrested 22

TDP workers staying there, as NTR was staying in

Ramakrishna studios.

256

On September 12, the same story was repeated again,

and the Assembly was adjourned within a few

minutes without transacting any business. The

leaders of national Opposition parties and the TDP

MLAs met the Governor, Shankar Dayal Sharma,

and said that Bhaskara Rao should not be continued

in office beyond 30 days without a confidence vote.

After the house was adjourned without specifying for

what period, the pro-NTR MLAs continued to sit

inside the House to make doubly sure that the House

was adjourned for the day, when the pro-Bhaskara

Rao MLAs used the opportunity to pour insult and

abuse on NTR. Their strategy was to come as close

to him as they can and pointing a finger at him, to

abuse him in filthy language. Ministers in Bhaskara

Rao cabinet wrenched four mikes and used them as

sticks with which they beat the tables before them,

while one Member removed the wooden plank and

used as a weapon till a Marshall took it away.

The Congress (I) Members sat silently but they

seemed to approve the invictives hurled at NTR, who

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sat, leaning on his walking stick, apparently

immersed in thought. His demeanour did not change

even as pro-Bhaskara Rao MLAs like Baggidi Gopal

and M.Kesava Reddy came up menacingly, as though

to physically to attack him, or MLAs like Edara

Deviah and Allam Sailu stood just one foot away

showering abuse. The 5 members of Majlis Ittehadul

Muslimeen and two Members of Sanjay Vichar

Manch joined the fray of abuse. NTR and his MLAs

endured the ordeal on all four days, as the enormous

public support they enjoyed outside threw a shield

around them, leaving them untouched.

The pro-NTR MLAs were attending the Assembly for

four days but not one of them crossed the floor, and

this made Bhaskara Rao frustrated. Bhaskara Rao

said that the MLAs were held in captivity by NTR

against their will, and if that was so, they could have

simply crossed over to Bhaskara Rao in the Assembly,

but the opposite happened. Jogi Masthaniah, a

Scheduled Caste MLA from Nellore district, was

physically lifted and was being taken away when the

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MLA shouted for help, and had to be rescued in full

view of the press. Palakonda Rayudu, one pro-NTR

MLA was surrounded by a dozen Congress (I) MLAs

trying to persuade him to come over to Bhaskara

Rao’s side, but the man did not budge.

The pro-NTR MLAs were told to observe utmost

restraint, because Bhaskara Rao wanted them to get

provoked so that he could say the atmosphere was not

conducive to his taking a vote of confidence. In

contrast to the atmosphere of abuse inside the House,

NTR and his MLAs were cheered by large crowds on

the Lower Tank Bund road, Indira Park and RTC

cross roads as he travelled in his convoy of buses to

the Ramakrishna studios.

Then on the third day, September 13, the same story

was repeated, but this time, the protem Speaker

adjourned the House in five minutes, and 12 minutes

later, he resigned from his post, saying he was

feeling sick. The MLAs were still sitting in the

House, but the Legislature Secretary informed Baga

Reddy that he cannot enter the House again either to

259


annouce his resignation or a new date of the session.

An ambulance was brought and he was lying down

on the bed when NTR came to wish him speedy

recovery. Baga Reddy was taken to Gandhi Hospital

where Doctors said they advised him complete rest,

but the heart condition was normal and blood

pressure was under control. It was clear that

Bhaskara Rao took a gamble, and was playing for

more time, “until the MLAs were released from

captivity by NTR”. The all Party action committee

announced an Andhra Pradesh bandh for Sept 17,

saying that only a popular struggle can safeguard

democracy in the State.

On Sept 14, Bhaskara Rao said that he had fulfilled

Governor’s directive. “The vote of confidence was

listed in the agenda, and it is not my fault if the

protem Speaker failed to complete the business”.

Bhaskara Rao said there was demand from Members

for a debate on drought situation and law and order

problems. The Assembly could be convened on

September 20 to take up the condolence resolution,

260

motion of vote of confidence, the drought and law

and order situation. He said Salauddin Owaisi, the

leader of Majlis Ittehadul Muslieen group, would be

the new protem Speaker.

The 163 MLAs supporting NTR issued a statement

on Sept 14, saying that Indira Gandhi’s Government

was directing the conspiracy to dismiss NTR’s

Government, and to disrupt the Assembly

proceedings to ensure that the motion of confidence

is not taken up. “But for the support of Indira

Gandhi’s Party, and the connivence of her nominee,

the State Governor, and misuse of the Central forces

and the Army, Bhaskara Rao cannot continue in

power for a day”, they said.

Then on September 16, Governor Shankar Dayal

Sarma sent in a letter to NTR at 12.30 pm, inviting

him to form a new Ministry. This came quite like a

bolt from the blue, and electrified the atmosphere in

the Ramakrishna Studios where the MLAs were

staying. The 1.10 pm All India Radio Telugu news

bulletin was broadcast over the mike system, so that

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MLAs could hear the text of the letter. Shankar

Dayal Sarma asked Bhaskara Rao to resign, saying

he could not win a vote of confidence within the

period of one month given to him by Governor Ram

Lal on August 16 last, and Bhaskara Rao obliged.

NTR’s second swearing-in as Chief Minister took

place at 3.48 pm in an atmosphere of festivity.

Whole of Andhra Pradesh came to know of the news,

and hundreds of people gathered along the route of

NTR’s motorcade while the Raj Bhavan Road looked

like a sea of humanity. There was still curfew in

force, but Policemen withdrew as people took to the

streets celebrating the return of NTR with the

bursting of crackers. Bhaskara Rao lost his gamble,

because he expected the Governor to convene the

Assembly on September 20, condoning one week’s

delay, but the Governor read his Constitutional

obligation differently.

Gates were opened at Raj Bhavan, and Security

personnel looked indulgently, while people freely

entered the place, plucked flowers from the flower

262

beds on the pathways and lawns, and gave bouquets

to NTR, who sat on top of the Chaitanya Ratham.

His signature tune, the “maa telugu talliki mallepu

danda” was played from the van, and youth on the

road stopped Madras Express, while the driver blew

the horn thrice to herald NTR’s return to power.

A commentator in the van said: “Last month, on the

same date, NTR left Raj Bhavan as a prisoner in a

Police lorry. Today, he is coming out as Chief

Minister. This transformation is due to people’s

upsurge and he salutes the people of the whole

Country for so valiantly responding to the call for the

struggle for the restoration of democracy”.

NTR said that the events of the previous one month

when the entire people rose to wage a struggle to

preserve our Constitution and democracy, will be

written in letters of gold in our Country’s history.

“This is proof of the growing political consciousness

of the people”. The CPI leaders Chandra Rajeswara

Rao and Indrajit Gupta, were the only national

leaders to attend the swearing in ceremony.

263


G.K.Reddy wrote in THE HINDU, that this was only

time since Independence that a Chief Minister

deposed through manipulative politics was able to

ride a crusade and return to power.

NTR won his vote of confidence in the Assembly on

September 20, with 171 votes in his favour. People

who assembled in large numbers outside the

Assembly cheered NTR as he came out of its

premises, but it was humiliating for Bhaskara Rao to

demand from the new protem Speaker,

P.Mahendranath, Police protection to go home!

That was the last of the Assembly that was elected in

the 1983 general elections. On November 22 that

year, the Andhra Pradesh Assembly was dissolved as

NTR desired to have a fresh mandate from the

people. Those were stupendous times, because

Operation Blue Star was launched in August 1984

and Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31.

Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister and scheduled

Lok Sabha elections for December 27 that year.

264

At 7 am on November 22, NTR called in N.Giri

Prasad, Secretary of CPI State Council, Nanduri

Prasada Rao, leader of CPI M) Legislature Party,

M.Venkiah Naidu, leader of BJP group in Assembly,

S.Jaipal Reddy, Janata MLA and M.Omkar, Marxist

Communist Party, and conveyed to them his decision

about dissolution. The Cabinet met at 8 am and

resolved to have the Assembly dissolved, and the Raj

Bhavan issued a communique at 10 am, dissolving

the Assembly. Bhaskara Rao and K.Rosiah,

Congress (I), met the Governor to protest at the way

the decision was taken. NTR had spoken to Rajiv

Gandhi and got his approval for the dissolution.

NTR said that when 55 of Telugu Desam MLAs

deceived the people, “I cannot excuse them. The men

who sabotaged the will of the people cannot

represent the people. The decision is to cleanse

politics”

While Rajiv Gandhi won more than 400 seats in the

Lok Sabha with the nation-wide sympathy wave for

Indira Gandhi, in Andhra Pradesh, 35 out of the 42

265


seats were won by Telugu Desam and its allies, the

people showing greater sympathy for NTR because

of the August crisis, and Telugu Desam became the

single largest Opposition group in the Lok Sabha, in

which the BJP got a mere two seats, one being

C.Janga Reddy from Andhra Pradesh who defeated

P.V.Narasimha Rao in Warangal. In March 1985

elections to the State Assembly, NTR easily came

back to power with 202 seats, while Bhaskara Rao’s

Telugu Desam, contesting from 220 seats, lost

deposits in all seats except one, and was completely

rejected by the people, by polling just one per cent of

the popular vote. Bhaskara Rao later joined

Congress (I), and served a term as Khammam MP.

Though NTR had two thirds majority in the

Assembly, he did not have a single Member belonging

to Telugu Desam in the Legislative Council.

Normally, any Chief Minister would have engineered

defections from the Congress or Independents to get a

working majority in the Council, but NTR was

committed to the idea of abolishing the Council, and

266

so made no effort to garner support. The Congress

therefore used its two thirds majority in the Council

to stall non-money bills, forcing the Telugu Desam

Government to re-promulgate Ordinances again and

again, which was considered anti-democratic.

Syed Mukassir Shah was Chairman of the Council

while K.Rosiah was Leader of Opposition. The

Telugu Desam Ministers were able to defend the

Government bills, but these bills would surely be

voted down. Telugu Desam would have liked the

Congress to get the bills defeated in the Council, for

then, the Government could introduce the bills again

in the Assembly and have them adopted, which would

automatically become law as the Constitution

provided for this procedure. But, the Congress

adopted the technique of referring these bills to a

Select Committee, and thus stall the passage of the

bills. At the end of each session of the Legislature,

the Government had to repromulgate the Ordinance

in order to keep the law in force.

A bill to amend the Panchayat Raj Act, to introduce

267


the Mandal system in the place of Taluqs, was thus

stalled. The Minister piloting the bill, Karanam

Ramachandra Rao, refused to serve on the Select

Committee, but the Council Chairman ruled that

since he was the Minister piloting the bill, he had to

head the Select Committee.

In January 1985, the Governor, Dr Shankar Dayal

Sharma, did not initially repromulgate an Ordinance

banning the posts of Village Officers (such as

Karanams, Munisiffs in the Andhra and Patels and

Patwaris in Telengana region). The then President of

Andhra Pradesh Congress (I) Committee, Dr

Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy, said that the Governor was

conferring definite electoral advantage to Telugu

Desam by refusing to repromulgate the Ordinance

because “the Governor was in collusion with the

Chief Minister”. NTR rejected the charge, saying

that the Congress was interested in bringing back the

discredited system.

The Village officers challenged the Ordinance in the

Supreme Court, which gave a stay, but the stay was

268

vacated in March 1984. The Ordinance was

repromulgated on March 21, on June 7 and on July

19, and it lapsed on December 6, 1984. An Ordinance

has to be promulgated by a Governor only if he is

“satisfied” that conditions exist and in a judgment,

the Allahabad High Court said that successive

repromulgation of the Ordinance “was a new

practice indulged in by several State Governments

which is not consistent with the Constitution”. The

petitioner had alleged that the “Governor’s

satisfaction was a colourable exercise of power”.

The Bihar Government promulgated 203 Ordinances

in 1981. The Chota Nagpur Tenance (Amendment)

Ordinance promulgated in February 1971 and was

kept alive through repromulgations for five years

until it was made into a law in February 1976.

While the Legislative Council was thus used to stall

legislation, another development took place,

targetting Ch.Ramoji Rao, Editor of Eenadu. The

daily had published a news report about heated

exchanges in the Council and titled it: “peddala

269


galaabha”, which could be translated as “elders

noise”. The Legislative Council is also called the

House of Elders. A BJP member moved a privelege

notice against Ramoji Rao and other staff of

Eenadu, which the Priveleges Committee upheld, and

the Council decided to bring Ramoji Rao to the bar

of the House and censure him.

Ramoji Rao moved the Supreme Court and obtained

a stay of the proceedings, but the Council Chairman,

Mukassir Shah, directed the Police Commissioner of

Hyderabad, K.Vijayarama Rao, to arrest Ramoji

Rao and bring him to the Council hall, or else

Vijayarama Rao would be punished for contempt.

There was a big drama in the Council one day, when

a small platform was created and a chair provided

for Ramoji Rao to come to the bar of the House to

receive a censure. The Council was in session, with all

the Members in attendance, waiting for Ramoji Rao

brought before the bar but nothing happened. The

Police Commissioner sent a letter to the Council

Chairman stating that he will commit contempt of

270

the Supreme Court if he arrested Ramoji Rao,

because the Editor got a stay from the Court, and the

Commissioner would commit contempt of the

Legislative Council if he did not bring Ramoji Rao to

the Council. Vijayarama Rao then sought the advice

the State Government, which was not forthcoming.

That was the last of the Legislative Council. The

Council was adjourned sine die that day, and in

August 1984, NTR’s Government was dismissed, it

was reinstated in September 1984, and in October, the

Assembly was dissolved. At the national level also,

Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, and

Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister in December

1984. Having come to power with more than 400

MPs in Congress, Rajiv Gandhi immediately

introduced the Anti-Defection Bill, and NTR gave his

full support to the bill, though a number of political

parties wanted changes.

Then NTR went to Delhi and met Rajiv Gandhi.

The Prime Minister wanted to somehow compensate

NTR for the way his Government was dismissed in

271


1984,and he asked him for a choice of two wishes

from which he could bestow one to NTR. NTR

asked for the abolition of the Legislative Council,

and a one time grant of Rs 100 crores for Telugu

Ganga project. Rajiv Gandhi agreed for the abolition

of the Council.

On April 30, 1985 the Assmbly again adopted a

resolution demanding abolition of the Council. This

was introduced in Parliament soon after and the

Council was abolished.

272

NTR was chastened by the August 1984 political

crisis and the next five years of his term as Chief

Minister was marked by a constant fight with the

Congress (I) Government at the Centre, and with

Congress (I) leaders in the State. He had a bad press

and appeared to be always at the receiving end. His

wife, Basavatarakam, died of cancer at Bombay in

September, 1984, and he appeared to be feeling lonely.

He concentrated on building up a national

alternative to the Congress (I). When Rajiv Gandhi

became Prime Minister, in October, 1984, NTR

looked forward to have a friendly working

relationship with him, and extended complete

support for the Anti-Defection bill introduced in

Parliament, the only Opposition leader to have done

so. Rajiv Gandhi reciprocated by abolishing the

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council. But from then,

the attack on NTR continued both at the national

and State levels, through a series of agitations, court

cases, and allegations of corruption, casteism and so

on in the Assembly and outside.

NTR, Congress & National Front

273


In the administration also, NTR continued to make a

series of mistakes. He suddenly increased the quota

of reservation for the Backward Classes from 25 per

cent to 33 per cent, leading to a big agitation, and it

was suspended only when the Courts stayed the

Order. As Chief Minister, NTR performed the

marriage of his last daughter with a businessman

from Coimbatore, who turned out to have had a

relationship with another woman, and had financial

troubles. One day he advised his daughter to ask for

a divorce, and that day he asked his entire Cabinet to

submit their resignation letters, forwarded them to

the Governor, and had them dismissed. Only the

Chief Minister was in office without a cabinet for the

next five days. He grew impatient with his party

rank and file also, and at the Vijayawada party

mahanadu in 1988, he asked those that wanted him

to change his style of functioning to leave the Party.

“I will not change. The Party has come with me, and

you have to change to keep pace”, he had said.

At the time of the first Opposition conclave he

274

organised, NTR attacked Indira Gandhi’s

authoritarian attitude towards non-Congress

Governments in the States, asserting that the Centre

discriminated between States ruled by Congress and

non-Congress parties in the matter of grant of

Central funds for welfare schemes and so on. NTR

criticised the Operation Blue Star, when Indian Army

marched into the Golden Temple at Amritsar, and the

subsequent killing of Sikhs, saying that was not the

way to deal with the problem.

The Sarkaria Commission was enquiring into

Centre-State relations, and NTR wanted its terms

amended, to make allotment of funds for welfare

programmes in the States given according to a

formula in which the Centre had no discretionary

power to increase or decrease amounts. Since 50 per

cent of funds for these welfare schemes were given by

State Governments, he gave them Telugu names,

resulting in Congress leaders creating a furore that he

was trying to snatch credit for schemes implemented

by Indira Gandhi’s Government.

275


NTR said the Congress came to power on a minority

vote, benefitting by a split in Opposition vote

because of the presence of many Opposition

candidates. If the Opposition parties could make a

fair assessment of their strengths and weaknesses,

decide which among them had the best chance of

defeating the Congress (I), and if a single candidate

of Opposition was in contest, surely the Congress (I)

can be defeated. He was aware of the ego problems

of Opposition leaders, but strove to evolve a

consensus on national issues, starting from the first

Opposition conclave he organised in Vijayawada on

May 29, 1983 his first birthday in office as Chief

Minister, when the Telugu Desam Party mahanadu

(general body) was held.

NTR’s first meeting was a success, though it was held

in scorching heat in Vijayawada, and the attack was

on the Congress (I)’s performance which was

reducing the importance of States, centralising power

in the hands of the Prime Minister, and Indira

Gandhi’s authoritarian rule. The next meeting was

276

held in Delhi, and 45 leaders from 16 parties

attended it. The Congress (J) stalwart Jagjivan Ram

was there, as also D.K.Barooah of Congress (S),

Chandra Rajeswara Rao of CPI,

E.M.S.Nambudiripad of CPI (M), H.N.Bahuguna of

Democratic Socialist Party, Chitta Basu of Forward

Block, Chandrasekhar and Madhu Dandavate of

Janata, Chowdhary Charan Singh of Lok Dal, Dr

Farooq Abdullah of National Conference, Tridib

Chowdhary of RSP (I), R.S.Gavai and

B.D.Khobragade of Republican Party and Ratubhai

Adani of Rashtriya Congress. NTR invited Jagjivan

Ram to preside over the meeting, but the latter said

there is no need for anyone to preside and talks could

be informal.

The leaders took note of “ominous pronouncements”

of the Prime Minister against the Opposition, mainly

the remark that “existence of the Opposition itself

was the cause for the present state of affairs in the

Country”. The leaders said that the Centre was

encroaching upon the state’s powers contrary to the

277


spirit of the Constitution, and called for a review of

the Centre-State relations. The leaders demanded

that the scope of the Sarkaria Commission should be

enlarged, and its terms of reference decided only after

consultations with the State Governments and the

Opposition parties in Parliament.

There was a lull in his unity moves during 1984,

because of his own political crisis in which he lost

power during a Congress (I) supported coup for a

brief period of one month, the assassination of

Indira Gandhi in October, and the general elections

of December, 1984. NTR’s bitter experience brought

him closer to national Opposition leaders, who

visited Hyderabad to express their solidarity during

his political crisis, such as Atal Behari Vajpayee,

Jyothi Basu, E.M.S.Nambudiripad, Indrajit Gupta,

Farooq Abdullah, Chandrasekhar and

M.Karunanidhi,

In January 1986, NTR assembled Opposition leaders

at Hyderabad wherein leaders of 13 parties issued a

statement criticising Rajiv Gandhi’s speech at the

278

Congress Centenary celebrations. These Opposition

leaders said that “instead of observing it as a

national event, it was used to launch an intemperate

and irresponsible attack on non-Congress (I) parties,

especially regional parties, dubbing them as anti-

national” Dubbing the democratic aspirations of the

people of several States as anti-national “is itself a

gross anti-national act. Patriotism is not the

monopoly of any particular party”, they said.

This declaration was signed by three Chief Ministers,

N.T.Rama Rao, Ramakrishna Hegde of Karnataka

and Surjit Singh Barnala of Punjab, besides

K.P.Unnikrishnan of Congress (S), Dinesh Goswami

of Asom Gana Parishad, Abdul Rashid Kabuli of

National Conference, C.T.Dandapani of DMK,

Ram Naresh Yadav of Samata Party, B.B.Lyngdoh of

Meghalala among others. They criticised the lop-

sided economic policies of the Centre, the elitist

approach of the 7th Five Year Plan document, the

Centre’s discriminatory attitude towards non-

Congress Governments etc. They congratulated

279


Asom Gana Parishad for winning elections in Assam,

and demanded dismissal of a “defectors

Government headed by G.M.Shah in Jammu and

Kashmir”.

In 1988, the National Peoples Front finally took

shape. Representatives of six political parties met at

Delhi on July 12 and 13 and approved a draft, and

NTR circulated the drafts of the Constitution of the

NPF or Rashtriya Jan Morcha. The original draft

described it as a “Front of like-minded political

parties – both national and regional – with the

parties retaining their respective identities”. In

Parliament, members belonging to Front parties were

to form into a single group. The Group will elect a

leader in each House. There will be a chairman and

other office bearers for the Parliamentary group

consisting of Members of both Houses. Among its

aims and objects was listed: “to build up a

Democratic, Secular and Socialist State in India and

provide a clean and efficient administration for the

country with emphasis on equality and social justice.

280

It will ensure decentralisation of economic and

political power in the true federal spirit”. There were

seven constituent parties – the Janata, Lok Dal,

Congress (S), Telugu Desam, Dravida Munnetra

Kazhagam, Asom Gana Parishad and Jan Morcha.

NTR was elected Chairman while V.P.Singh was the

Convenor. NTR convened a meeting of the seven

parties in the Andhra Bhavan in Delhi on August 6

and 7 to approve the draft constitution, and here the

name of the front was changed from National

Peoples Front to National Front.

By then, the Fairfax affair, the probe ordered by

V.P.Singh as Defence Minister into certain defence

deals, and the Bofors issue came to the top of

agenda. NTR said that the quick succession of these

events that rocked the nation, cannot be dismissed as

some isolated aberration in the conduct of national

affairs. “The Punjab issue continues to be a

smouldering couldron. The festering sore of the

foreigners issue in the North East continues to elude a

solution. The non-Congress (I) States continue to

281


nurse the feeling of distrust, discrimination and

deprivation by the Centre.”

On August 10, NTR went to Calcutta to participate

in a symposium organised by the West Bengal Chief

Minister, Jyoti Basu, on “Why a national alternative

and how?” NTR said for five years, he had been

constantly striving to unite all the elements of

Opposition in order to deliver a frontal attack on

Congress (I) and dislodge it from the “commanding

heights of power and authority”. He commented

that it looked as though the mololithic party

acquired a prescriptive and dynastic right. “My

opposition is not to Congress (I) as such. My

opposition is to bad Government, mis-Government

and a corrupt Government. The question to be

debated should not be why there shall be a national

alternative, but why we have made such inordinate

delay in building it up”, NTR said.

Finally, the National Front was launched at a big

rally organised by DMK in Madras on September 17,

a rally so huge that it took three hours for the

282

procession to cross a point. Four Chief Ministers

addressed the public meeting – NTR, S.R.Bommai

(Karnataka), P.K.Mohanta (Assom), Devi Lal

(Haryana) besides V.P.Singh and M.Karunanidhi.

NTR told the public meeting that “the Congress

rules, not with the authority of popular will, but

through the weakness and disunity of Opposition,

not by virtue of efficiency and moral stature, but

with the help of money and muscle power. Its writ

cannot run any more”

As Convenor of the NF, V.P.Singh released a 71 point

common minimum programme, which consisted of

social and economic justice, prevention of attrocities

on scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women,

effective measures to prevent caste and communal

conflicts, removing imbalance in fiscal, legislative

and administrative relations between Centre and

States, and so on. H.N.Bahuguna, President of Lok

Dal, was made chairman of a committee to chalk out

an action plan for the Front constituents.

NTR finally succeeded in putting National Front in

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power in the 1989 general elections and V.P.Singh

became Prime Minister. But NTR suffered a setback

in Andhra Pradesh, when Telugu Desam was

defeated by Congress (I) in the Assembly elections

which were held simulteneously. NTR was depressed,

but still he wanted to do his duty as Chairman, and

went to Delhi for a day to chair a meeting of the

National Front, but returned to Hyderabad the same

evening. The public focus was on V.P.Singh, and

NTR felt sidelined because of his defeat in his home

turf. A number of speculative reports appeared that

NTR being the Chairman of National Front, he

would have liked to become Deputy Prime Minister,

but NTR was dignified enough to say that his place

was in Andhra Pradesh, to a life as Leader of

Opposition in the State assembly, preparing for

another battle in the 1994 general elections.

From January 1983 to November 1989, when NTR

was in power, there was a virtual war of words

between him and the Congress leaders ranging from

Union Ministers to local chieftains. Congressmen

284

appeared to vie with each other to denigrate NTR in

order to win the approval of the Party High

Command. Congressmen considered NTR as a

novice, an upstart, and a fool – and they said so to

his face. In August 1987, Prime Minister Rajiv

Gandhi visited Neerukonda village in Guntur district,

when the Union Minister for Planning, P.Shivshankar,

told NTR “Don’t talk like a fool” in the presence of

the Prime Minister. In this visit, a woman told the

Prime Minister that there was fire in her house on

July 15, and she extinguished the fire and left. This

was translated by Shivshankar as: “She says the

people in the village left in panic, and there was no

one in the village”. NTR asked Shivshankar not to

misinterpret the remarks whereupon Shivshankar

made that comment. During a campaign for

Panchayat elections in 1986, Union Minister, Jalagam

Vengal Rao said, referring to NTR: “I can kick him

like a football and he will fall in Madras”. The

implication is that NTR who spent 30 years in

Madras for his films, would wind up his show as

Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh and go back to

285


Madras if he were to be defeated in the Panchayat

polls. Vengal Rao told NTR: “You are Chief

Minister for one State, and I am Union Minister for

25 States in the Country”. The elections to the local

bodies came a few days after Zail Singh laid down

office as President, and he said, that he was offered

Rs 30 crores to dismiss Rajiv Gandhi’s Government

by a man he refused to name. Without any second

thought, Jalagam Vengal Rao said in his speeches

that it was NTR who offered the money to the

President. After a few days, Zail Singh identified the

person as Chandraswamy, and revealed he wanted

P.V.Narasimha Rao to be installed as Prime Minister.

Then there was Buta Singh, Union Home Minister,

who came for a campaign for a by-election to Guntur

Zilla Parishad in December, 1986, and told a public

meeting: “Why should this fellow (a reference to

NTR) go to Nagaland?”, referring to NTR

campaigning against the Congress in Nagaland.

Buta Singh said that NTR “stole crores of rupees

from Income Tax. He has acquired property worth

286

crores of rupees. I am not saying this. The Andhra

Pradesh High Court has said all this.” The fact was

that the High Court did not say this. It was the

contention of a Congress (I) leader in his affadavit in

the Court. Buta Singh said that NTR was “hand in

glove with separatist forces and was trying to divide

the Country into pieces”.

A funny thing happened when K.K.Tiwari, Union

Minister for Public Enterprises, visited Tirupati and

Hyderabad in June, 1986, and gave a call to Congress

cadres to “engage in street demonstrations to save

Andhra Pradesh from Telugu Desam rule and fill up

the jails” demanding the dismissal of NTR’s

Government. He explained at a press conference that

the provocation for that statement was the conclave

of Opposition leaders organised by NTR at

Vijayawada three years ago, at which, Tiwari said, a

resolution was adopted to pull down the

constitutioanally elected Government of Indira

Gandhi. Asked how he came to know of such a

resolution without it being reported in the press,

287


Tiwari said that was the “only objective of the

conclave”. Asked why he kept quiet for three years,

he said he became a Minister only one month earlier,

and so he wanted to criticise the conclave in which

diverse forces from BJP to CPI (M) ganged up against

Indira Gandhi. Tiwari went on to assert that the Rs

2 per kg programme represented “the philosophy of a

feudal lord whose mind is utterly reactionary because

it would keep the poor in perpetual poverty”. Asked

what he thought of the Central scheme in which rice

and wheat was distributed at Rs 1.85 per kg in tribal

areas, Tiwari said it was “a very good programme

because it helped the poorest of the poor”. When

told that Congress leaders claimed that the Rs 2 a kg

scheme was launched by them, Tiwari replied they

would not have said that. When told that

P.Shivshankar, Union Minister, said that the Centre

gave the entire subsidy for the scheme, Tiwari said:

“Whatever their views, I am giving my individual

opinion. We are in the Opposition. What elese do you

expect us to do in Andhra Pradesh?”.

288

NTR had another problem with Kumudben Joshi,

who became Governor on November 26, 1985 after

Shankar Dayal Sharma left. She was an unmarried

woman, but she directed that she should be addressed

as “Srimathi” or “Mrs” and not as “Miss” or

“Kumari”. Congress leaders called her a “people’s

Governor” who attended 1,200 functions in one year!

This works out to 3.5 functions per day!

During Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to Hyderabad for a three

hour visit on December 22, 1987, there was an

incident. Sonia Gandhi, as the wife of the Prime

Minister, asked whether the man in a safari suit was

indeed P.Upendra, Leader of Telugu Desam

Parliamentary Party. The Prime Minister confirmed

this, and went along with the Governor to meet

Congress ex-Ministers. But Upendra, completely

shaken, said later that Sonia Gandhi told him: “I will

see to your end, if I am alive, for what you said about

me in Parliament”. Sonia Gandhi went with the

Governor to Raj Bhavan and returned with

Kumudben Joshi an hour before the PM’s departure,

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and got down from the car right at the steps of the

aircraft. Solnia Gandhi was confronted by

V.Hanumantha Rao, Joint Secretary of Andhra

Pradesh Congress Committee, who briefed her about

Upendra’s allegation. From gestures seen from a

distance, Hanumantha Rao apparently was

requesting her to personally deny the allegation but

she ignored his pleadings and climbed into the

aircraft.

Kumudben Joshi sat for some time on a sofa in the

shamiana, but suddenly called for her car, drove out,

stopped the Prime Minister’s convoy midway, got into

the PM’s car and travelled with him to the airport.

The Prime Minister met the press immediately on

arrival to deny that his wife was capable of

threatening anyone, and then the Governor

intervened to say: “It is all lies”.

There was a running feud between the Governor and

Telugu Desam functionaries. N.Srinivasulu Reddy, as

Revenue Minister, used to describe Joshi as a

“Congress agent” who converted “the Raj Bhavan

290

into a Rajiv Bhavan”. The Governor would call for

files from the Secretariat, and the Congressmen used

to criticise with the strength of the inside

information.

Case against NTR

The Congress used various strategies to put NTR on

the mat. One such strategy was to pin him down in a

legal case and derive political mileage. This was

done when a Congress (I) leader, Dronamraju

Sathyanarayana, filed a public interest litigation

against NTR in the Andhra Pradesh High Court in

1987.

His affadavit ran to 193 pages and listed 196

allegations against the Chief Minister, and it

included wild allegations that he allowed Kamma

people to enter Indian Administrative and Police

Services and occupy important positions, though

NTR had nothing to do with people who passed All

India Civil Services examinations in the routine

course in 1960s and entered the IAS or IPS. The

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allegations related to fiscal crimes, breaches of fiscal

laws, acts of personal corruption and dishonesty,

political patronage to people belonging to Kamma

caste, favouritism, misappropriation of funds,

bringing about breakdown of the Constitutional

machinery as also anarchy, extermination of

Naxalites in fake encounters, lock-up deaths etc. The

petitioner said that all these allegations “have to be

read as a whole, with specific reference to the type of

allegations and the reliefs sought”.

These petitions were quickly disposed. Dronamraju

filed four writ petitions on August 24, 1987 and a

Division Bench took up the petitions for hearing on

September 27. A full bench commenced arguments on

the admissibility of the writs on October 24. On

November 2, the full bench of three Judges admitted

two writs, one seeking a direction to the Centre to

appoint a Commission of Inquiry, and another

seeking a direction to prosecute the Chief Minister

for violation of Income Tax Act, Wealth Tax Act etc.

Arguments in the two writ petitions began before a

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5-Judge Bench of the High Court on December 15,

and the arguments were concluded on December 31,

and judgment delivered on January 2, 1988. The

Chief Justice K.Bhaskaran, retired from service a few

days later.

Notice was given to the Attorney General,

K.Parasaran, to assist the Court as an amicus curiea.

Nani Palkhivala appeared for NTR at the admission

stage and contested mainly the locus standi of the

petitioner to raise the issues. A brief counter

affadavit was filed by the Chief Minister questioning

the locus standi and the jurisdiction of the Court to

grant the relief prayed for.

One of the allegations was that NTR declared in

1985, after he became Chief Minister, a personal

income of Rs 7.50 lakhs and a wealth of Rs 51 lakhs

for his joint family, in respect of which he evaded tax,

under the voluntary disclosure scheme. The Judges

said: “According to Counsel for the petitioner, in the

file relating to the Chief Minister, the Union Finance

Minister had written that this was a clear case of

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evasion of tax. The petitioner contended that under

the voluntary disclosure scheme, the Chief Minister

might escape the penal consequences, but this did not

and should not mean that he did not forfeit his moral

right to continue in office of the Chief Minister,

particularly in view of the fact that people adored

such dignitaries as idols, placing so much confidence

in their integritity and sense of fairplay”.

Now, this was clearly an unfair allegation because

the Vountary Disclosure of Income was promulgated

on October 8, 1975, the scheme lapsed on January 1,

1976 and therefore the question of NTR making a

disclosure in 1985, after becoming Chief Minister, did

not arise. NTR sought criminal prosecution of the

petitioner for making such a baseless allegation.

But the High Court relied on the affadavit of the

petitioner, in which he said that the affadavit filed by

NTR “was conspicious by the absense of any denial

of allegation” relating to the 1985 disclosure, and

hence the allegation was considered as true. Since

the petition contained 196 allegations, NTR’s

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counter affadavit before the full bench, at the time of

admissibility of the petition, denied all allegations in

general, but that was not enough. The Court said:

“According to the petitioner, going by the dictum laid

down by the Supreme Court in the decision which led

to the resignation of N.Sanjiva Reddy, it was

legitimate for the Court to draw an inference that the

allegations in the affadavit in relation to the evasion

of tax by the Chief Minister was true and correct”.

The reference was to Neelam Sanjiva Reddy’s

resignation as Chief Minister in 1964, because he did

not specifically deny the charge of mala fide in

taking up for nationalisation a particular bus route

in Kurnool district, and the fact he did not deny the

allegation, was regarded as acceptance of the

allegation by Sanjiva Reddy.

The Court went on: “His question to us was whether

the Chief Minister, who was a self-proclaimed tax

offender, would have the moral courage to enforce

taxation laws in the State, or to take action against

people who evaded or defaulted in the payment of

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tax. We take it that the question put to us by Counsel

for the petitioner is rather addressed to the Chief

Minister himself. Even accepting that healthy

democratic traditions demand the resignation of the

Chief Minister, not only when he forfeits the

confidence of the majority of the Members of the

Legislative Assembly, but also when it is shown that

he is guilty of moral turpitude, and is therefore

unworthy of holding the exalted office, the call for

action has to come from within. It is not a matter of

compulsion from outside…The moral and ethical

standards might differ from person to person. What

might shock the conscience of one person might not

cause even a stir in the mind of another”.

The Congress (I) got the maximum advantage out of

this observation, and the Union Minister of State for

Home, P.Chidambaram, quoted this in full in

Parliament asserting that NTR ought to have

resigned because of these “strictures”. When NTR

filed an affadavit showing how false the allegations

had been, the High Court in its judgment dated

January 2, 1988 said :

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“The charge that the Chief Minister disclosed in

1985 an income and wealth is totally false, says Ram

Jethmalani, Counsel for Chief Minister. But the

falsity does not pertain to the declaration under the

voluntary declaration scheme. It relates to the year in

which the declaration was made. Counsel for the

petitioner, S.Ramachandra Rao, fairly conceded that

the declaration was made in 1975 and by mistake, the

year was given as 1985 in the affadavit of the

petitioner. The lapse is there. The Chief Minister

however had sufficient opportunity to bring it to the

attention of the Court when a notice was issued to

him before the petitions were admitted. He did not

chose to controvert the claim in his counter affadavit.

So the factual error crept into the judgment. As

between the petitioner and the first respondent (CM),

who is to blame? We do not want to apportion the

blame”.

The judgment and the manner in which it was made

use of by Congress (I) leaders had a very adverse

impact on NTR and Telugu Desam. NTR and the

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Telugu Desam did not effectively rebut the judgment

or explain the political implications of the petition.

First, one makes 196 wild allegations, and later,

because the Chief Minister did not specifically deny

allegation X, it is considered true and a stricture is

passed, and when the falsity of allegation is brought

to notice, the question becomes one of apportioning

blame as between the petitioner and NTR. This was

not the way the issue was presented to the people.

NTR was advised by one Telugu Desam lawyer

Member of Parliament, who subsequently went over

to the Congress (I), not to talk of the judgement lest

it would be treated as contempt of court. NTR had

very poor advice from his Secretariat and legal

officers, and there was the additional problem of

TDP leaders deliberately giving him untenable

advice. But four national Opposition MPs issued a

statement taking exception to the way a judgment of

139 pages was delivered in less than 48 hours after

hearing ended, and that too on a non-working day,

during the vacation. Arun Nehru, Arif Mohammed

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Khan and Satyapal Malik of Jan Morch and

K.P.Unnikrishnan of Congress (S) said “the oddities

of the case are so many as to create grave disquiet”.

These MPs noted that Attorney General K.Parasaran

made a formal statement before the Andhra Pradesh

High Court , that if the Court was of the prima facie

view that the matter was appropriate for enquiry, as

Attorney General he would advise the Government to

order an enquiry. The MPs said:”We wonder if

Mr Parasaran would make a similar statement in the

Supreme Court in the event a petition is filed against

the Prime Minister for appointment of a regular

Commission of Inquiry to probe into charges in the

Bofors scandal”.

The Telugu Desam Legislature Party said that while

the Court was extremely considerate to the petitioner

in glossing over his averment of a 1985 disclosure of

income, it did not, with the same genorosity, retract

its observation in the judgment based on such a false

averment.

Ram Jethmalani argued that the High Court should

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not disregard rules relating to the pleadings. He felt

the case was a “political interest litigation, not a

public interest litigation” He said the Chief Minister

should be told what the actual case against him was,

if the Court was to scrutinise any specific instance

alleged by the petitioner in his voluminous affadavit.

And unless the petitioner was directed to put his

house in order, by properly amending his affadavit

and seeking appropriate relief, the Court should not

proceed any further. “It is the contention of the

Chief Minister that the petition discloses no cause for

action, its pleadings and averments are vague, prolix,

rolled up, scandalous, and false. The petition is a

perplexing misjoinder of desparate complaints. The

reliefs and allegations cannot be correlated”,

Jethmalani said. The Court rejected these points of

view.

The five Judges also said that it was “an

extraordinary case, without any parallel, a unique

public interest litigation which seeks to explore the

realms of accountability”. The hearing and

300

arguments in the case went on till the end of the

sitting on December 30, and the State’s Advocate

General, E.Manohar, got up to reply to some of the

points raised by the Attorney General, K.Parasaran,

who appeared as amicus curiae, as they were all

executive actions. But Manohar’s presence and

attempt to draw the attention of the Court were

ignored.

The Court said that NTR had abused his official

position in respect of five allegations against him.

These related to the establishment of a telephones

instruments factory by Naren Rajan, fourth son-in-

law of the Chief Minister, change of use of the

Ramakrishna studios lands, reduction in the value of

the land from Rs 40 to Rs 15 per square yard, and a

reduction of compounding fee from Rs 20,000 to Rs

1,000, failure on the part of Chief Minister to take

action to withdraw exemption and resume of the

Nacharam lands after the Ramakrishna Cine studios

ceased to be a cine studio, granting exemption from

payment of entertainment tax in respect of

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Ramakrishna cinema theatre owned by the Chief

Minister’s family, and setting up of L’avenir Steels

Private Limited in Medak district.

Naren Rajen and NTR’s daughter were divorced a

year later, and the telephone instrument factory did

not come up. The Ramakrishna theatres were given

exemption from payment of entertainment tax

during the days the areas were placed under curfew

for communal trouble, or due to other disturbances.

In 1970s, the State Government allotted 30 acres of

land to Akkineni Nageswara Rao to set up a film

studio in Jubilee Hills, along with 30 acres to Apollo

Hospitals to set up a Corporate Hospital, at the rate

of Rs 7,000 per acre. At that time, NTR already had

a Ramakrishna Studio in Musheerabad, and he

asked for about half an acre of Government land so

that his studio could have contiguous area. The

other two were given lands at a cheap price while

NTR was asked to pay Rs 40 per yard. The

allegation was that he had this reduced to Rs 15 per

yard by misusing his position as Chief Minister.

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Nobody took it seriously, when on January 4, NTR

offered to resign in the light of the judgment, at an

extended meeting of Telugu Desam Legislature Party,

Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party, Chairmen of

Zilla Parishads, Convenors of district units. They of

course unanimously rejected the offer. That looked

like an event stage managed to serve a routine

purpose. Jalagam Vengal Rao, as Union Minister,

described this as a “farce”, saying that NTR ought to

have resigned after the Court passed strictures. He

rejected the Telugu Desam allegation that the Court

process was part of a toppling game by the Congress

(I), asserting that the Centre was not interested in

toppling the Telugu Desam Government.

In an editorial titled “An Amazing Verdict”, the

Indian Express said, on January 4, 1988, that the

High Court performed the incredible feat of rejecting

the plea before it, and yet keeping it open in a

disguised form by a colourable exercise of judicial

power. “The result is a legal conundrum. The Chief

Minister’s conduct, to adjudicate which a

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Commission of Inquiry was sought and rejected, has

already been pronounced on. It is a patent injustice.

Having dismissed the writs, the High Court became

functus officio with no further jurisdiction. Despite

the position in law, the oral prayer of the petitioner’s

counsel, and the amicus curiae, if Mr Parasaran

could be so described in this case, has been virtually

treated by the Court as a new writ in a new petition.

It remains for us to congratulate the Court on its

amazing power to exert in the cause of expeditious

execution of the matter before it. The judgment runs

to 139 pages. It was ready to be delivered after due

consultation among the five Judges within an elapsed

time after hearing closed of less than 48 hours. Yet it

was summoned on a Saturday, not normally a

working day for Courts, at short notice. Such zeal in

the cause of duty is unexceptional”.

In fact, the Chief Justice took just two minutes to

read the operative portion of the judgment, which

assembled at 2 pm on January 2. After that, the

Court adjourned.

304

There was another case concerning the date of birth

of the Chief Justice K.Bhaskaran. The Supreme

Court, on January 8, 1988, asked the Standing

Counsel for the Government of India to give

information on whether the President of India had

taken steps to consult the Chief Justice of Supreme

Court on the matter. A petitioner said that

Bhaskaran had completed 62 years on September 4,

1985, and ought to have been superannuated,

according to the birth register maintained in the

Eruvatty village office in Kerala. The petitioner

alleged that February 10, 1925 was recorded as date

of birth in the admission register of an elementary

school in Ancharnakandy village, but this was

subsequently altered as February 2, 1926 without

authentication. Bhaskaran also served in the Army

from 1942 to 47, and at the time of entry he should

atleast have been 18 years of age. When Bhaskaran

became an Additional Judge of Kerala High Court in

1972, a law journal published in Kerala, mentioned

his date of birth as January 2, 1926. The Supreme

Court dismissed the petition on January 19, on the

305


ground the petitioner had no locus standi, and a

Judge asked whether the petitioner had any pending

case before Mr Justice Bhaskaran.

The High Court judgment being delivered within 48

hours of the conclusion of arguments, was defended

by E.Ella Reddy, President of Andhra Pradesh Bar

Council, on the ground “once the judgment was

ready, there was no point in unnecessarily keeping it

without being pronounced”. Ella Reddy said that

most of the Judges programmed to leave Hyderabad

on January 2 or 3 for the Sankranti vacation, and

once the judgment was ready, it was pronounced.

The Chief Justice, K. Bhaskaran, retired from service

during that vacation.

The petitioner, Dronamraju Sathyanarayana,

achieved his political objective of becoming a

Member of Rajya Sabha again, while the lawyer that

appeared for him, S.Ramachandra Rao, became

Advocate General when NTR became Chief Minister

in December, 1994. But during the second political

crisis in which NTR lost power, Ramachandra Rao

306

sided with N.Chandrababu Naidu, and returned to

his practice later.

Vangageeti Mohan Ranga’s murder

The one single incident that caused immense harm to

N.T.Rama Rao’s credibility as a leader and partly

contributed to his defeat in the 1989 general elections

was the murder of a Congress (I) MLA, Vangaveeti

Mohana Ranga Rao, while he was sitting in a fast on

a public road in Vijayawada on 26 December 1988.

NTR’s Government appeared paralysed in the face of

widespread retaliatory actions taken by the Kapus in

the coastal districts against the Kammas in the area,

which left about 20 people dead, while 500 cases of

arson were registered in Vijayawada alone in three

days, and Police opened fire in 28 places in that town.

Vijayawada had a history of rowdysm and

factionalism since the 1950s. It started with the

establishment of a Sitarama Samajam to celebrate

Sri Rama Navami in Vijayawada, where the birthday

of Rama is celebrated in a week long festival, in

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which mythological plays and dances are organised

in “pandals” put up at street corners. People used to

congregate in the evenings and had their quota of

entertainment. The organisers however started to

extort money from traders and businessmen and a

number of rowdy elements entered the Samajam to

acquire stature and respectablity, but they soon got

into rowdy fights to demarcate their localities of

power. To counter this, a CPI leader Venkataratnam

organised a group of people, including some anti-

social elements, and the two groups clashed several

times. One day in the 1960s, the CPI man was

murdered as he was going home in a cycle rickshaw.

He was succeded as leader of the group by

Vangaveeti Radha, brother of Ranga. Radha was a

small time operator, working in the bus stand, to

contact passengers travelling by bus from Vijayawada

to Hyderabad, persuade them to travel by taxi, and

collect one rupee as commission per passenger from

taxi owners. He became more powerful, as he started

settling civil disputes for a price, and enforcing his

decisions by force if one of the two parties failed to

comply.

308

As Radha became a force to reckon with in

Vijayawada, a rival faction came up with Deveneni

Gandhi as leader. Radha was a kapu and Gandhi

was a Kamma, and the conflict acquired a caste

angle. Radha was murdered by the rival faction, and

Ranga set up a “Radha friendship association” and

assumed the leadership. They targetted Devineni

Gandhi, who started a students association, winning

student elections in local colleges, from whom he

recruited people for his faction. Devineni Gandhi was

killed in 1980 by the Ranga group. Naturally,

Devenini Nehru, his brother, assumed the leadership.

The two factions were so powerful they started

having political ambitions. In 1980, Ranga became a

Congress Corporator in Vijayawada, while Devineni

Nehru joined the Telugu Desam as soon as it was

established in 1982, and the following year, he

became a Telugu Desam MLA at Vijayawada. In

1985, Ranga also became an MLA. In March, 1988,

the Ranga group struck, and killed Nehru’s youngest

brother, Murali, and five of his bodyguards, as he

was coming to Vijayawada in a convoy of three vans

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after appearing for an examination at Nellore.

Vijayawada was placed under curfew for two days.

Ranga, who was the prime accused in the case, went

underground for 45 days and later surrendered to the

Court. In December, 1988, the position was that it

was the turn of Nehru’s group to strike.

On December 22, Vangaveeti Ranga went on a fast in

front of his house in Vijayawada, alleging that the

Police were planning to bump him off, and seeking

protection. On 25th, he drafted a letter to Prime

Minister Rajiv Gandhi, asking him to provide

security and direct the State Government also to do

so. At about 4.30 am, on December 26, two private

buses came by and 40 persons descended from the

buses, bursting smoke bombs, and killing Ranga. A

19 year old student, G.Narasimha Dikshit, who was

sleeping on the platform along with Ranga, was also

killed as the assailants mistook him for Ranga.

It came to light four years later, that the assailants

were Boyas from Kurnool district, a group of hired

killers, who confessed to the murder while they were

310

caught in another case of murder and were

prosecuted in a court in Kurnool. They were not

asked who paid for the murder of Ranga, and so the

truth has remained officially a secret till now.

The news of Ranga’s murder spread fast in the

coastal districts. A group of Ranga’s supporters first

axed to death Dr Uppalapati Srihari, a TDP leader,

and set his house on fire. Cinema theatres owned by

Kammas were set on fire as mobs used petrol tins to

set fire to cinema halls such as Kalyana

Chakravarthi, belonging to NTR’s brother, Alankar,

Durga Kalavahini, Apsara and Jaihind, and two film

distribution offices Vijaya and Suresh.

NTR, who effectively controlled the communal

violence in the old City of Hyderabad, virtually failed

in tackling the Vijayawada murder and the

retaliation that followed. He received bad advice

both from the Police and from his Party, and behaved

like a leader who had become tired and old, having

no sense of direction. When Ranga sat on a hunger

strike on an open road, he became a sitting duck,

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and either NTR’s Government could have arrested

him and shifted him to a hospital or Jail, or NTR

could have restrained the rival faction, which was in

Telugu Desam, from taking any action to settle their

old scores. He did neither.

The Congress (I) organised a state wide bandh, and

demanded CBI enquiry into the murder, saying they

had no faith in the judicial enquiry the Government

ordered, on the ground “an accused cannot be the

judge”. The Government imposed curfew in

Vijayawada, but hundreds of people roamed about

the town without encountering any Police constable,

setting fire to shops they suspected belonged to the

Kammas or Telugu Desamd activists.

The then Union Minister, P.Shivshankar, went in a

procession to the Hospital mortuary to bring the

body of Ranga to the Congress (I) Party office where

it was kept for people to pay their respects. The

funeral was attended by the observers from All India

Congress Committee, including Ms Shiela Dixit,

Ms Mohsina Kidwai, Jagannath Pahadia, Gulam

312

Nabi Azad and Sitaram Kesari. The then Union

Home Minister, Buta Singh, was to visit Vijayawada

for the funeral but he cancelled the visit at the last

minute, and Congressmen demanded President’s Rule

in the State. The Congress (I) Legislature Party said

that Ranga’s murder was preceded by consultations

between NTR, the Home Minister and Director

General of Police, and therefore all of them were part

of a conspiracy.

The trouble spread to several towns and villages in

five coastal districts. At Jeyapuram, a village entirely

inhabited by Kamma farmers, a group of Kapu

youth from neighbouring villages came in tractors, to

burn every house in the village and beat up the

residents.

The Opposition parties also sent a fact finding

mission to Vijayawada, and this team consisted of

L.K.Advani (BJP), Madhu Dandavate, Mufti

Mohammed Sayeed, Veerendra Varma, (all Janata

Dal) R.S.Ramoowalia (Akali Dal) and Amal Datta

(CPI M).

313


Ranga’s murder had long range of consequences,

because Kapus were completely alienated from

Telugu Desam. A Kapu Minister in NTR’s Cabinet,

Ch. Harirama Jogiah, resigned from the Cabinet and

party and went to the Congress (I) , and another

Kapu leader, Mudragada Padmanabham, followed

suit a few months later. Harirama Jogiah, a film

producer, went to the Congress, became a Minister in

K.Vijayabhaskara Reddy in 1992-94, later lost in the

1994 and 1999 elections and shifted to BJP.

Mudragada Padmanabham went on a fast in 1994,

demanding that Kapus be included in the list of

Backward Classes, and Vijayabhaskara Reddy

hurriedly appointed a retired Judge from Karnataka,

K.Puttuswami, as a Commission, hoping to get his

report recommending inclusion of Kapus within a

month. Puttuswamy however outlasted

Vijayabhaskara Reddy, and actually submitted his

reporter after 9 years! Mudragada however was

greeted with banners “No Kapus in this village” as he

went for his campaign in 1994 elections, since he

alienated all castes because of his identification with

314

Kapus, and he later went to BJP, finally returned to

Telugu Desam and became a Member of Parliament

in 1999 elections.

315


NTR was depressed when he lost power in the 1989

November elections. He realised late that he

squandered the goodwill he enjoyed with the people

in 1983 and in 1985, through a series of mistakes.

Mistakes such as the wholesale dismissal of his

entire cabinet of 32 Ministers in January, 1989, the

way he mishandled the disturbances in the wake of

Vangaveeti Ranga’s murder in Vijayawada, and the

mistakes he did in distributing tickets to party

candidates in Nizamabad and Srikakulam districts.

NTR contested from two constituencies for the

Assembly, and he was elected comfortably from

Hindupur while he was defeated at Kalwakurthi of

Mahbubnagar district. This was a major setback for

the leader who won such a massive public mandate.

NTR took the decision to contest from Kalwakurthi

at the very last minute, as if to keep his opponents in

suspense, on the basis of a chance remark a Member

of Parliament, P.Radhakrishna, made to him, that

the lambadas of Kalwakurthi worship NTR’s picture

in the villages. Kalwakurthi was the constituency of

NTR as Leader of Opposition

316

S.Jaipal Reddy for a long time, while he was in the

Congress and then in Janata, and it was a

constituency with a predominent lambada

population, but these people were covered by a Non

Governmental Organization called AWARE. This

organization opposed NTR in the 1989 election, a

fact not known to NTR at the time his decision was

made.

When Telugu Desam activists from Hyderabad

arrived at Kalwakurthi to see the trend of the

campaign, they were surprised to find that the

lambadas, who were supposed to worship NTR, were

completely indifferent to Telugu Desam. They went

back to Hyderabad and said that some drastic

measures had to be taken to ensure NTR’s win, such

as a full day’s whirlwind tour of the constituency by

NTR, and stationing a large number of party

activists at the mandal and village level to oversee the

campaign because the local unit appeared to be

indifferent. NTR did not plan to visit either

Hindupur or Kalwakurthi, but these reports forced

him to address one meeting at Kalwakurthi on the

317


last day of the campaign. But his last minute efforts

went in vain.

In the 1989 elections, the Telugu Desam and its allies

CPI and CPI (M), polled 42.15 per cent of popular

vote, while the Congress came to power on 45.39 per

cent vote. Added to this was the fact the symbol

“motor cycle” allotted to Independent candidates

caused a major havoc for Telugu Desam because of

its close resemblance to the “bicycle” symbol of TDP.

At Anakapalli for example, an Independent

candidate with the “motor cycle” symbol polled

14,205 votes while the TDP nominee lost the election

to Lok Sabha by 11,158 votes. The “motor cycle”

symbol was thereafter frozen.

NTR rued his assertion in the 1988 Vijayawada

mahanadu that “the Party came with me and it will

go with me. Those who want me to change can as

well leave the Party and go because there is no

question of my changing a bit”. He knew it was not

easy to dislodge the Congress from power a second

time, but he bid for his time, hoping that Congress

318

would commit more mistakes and become unpopular

soon.

Dr Marri Channa Reddy was President of Andhra

Pradesh Congress Committee, at that time, and he

was the natural choice for Chief Minister. He had

enormous self-confidence, following a meeting he had

with Sri Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi, who

predicted his win. The Congress (I) was jubiliant

that it was coming back to power after a gap of six

years.

Dr Channa Reddy became Chief Minister on

December 3, 1989 and ruled the state for one year.

The 1989 elections saw big changes at the Centre

also, and Rajiv Gandhi lost power and V.P.Singh

became Prime Minister. Dr Channa Reddy started

undoing the things that NTR did before, and one of

his first announcements was to withdraw the rule

making wearing helmet compulsory for scooter

riders! He made the announcement at his very first

public meeting after the swearing in ceremony at the

Nizam College grounds.

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This was Dr Channa Reddy’s second stint as Chief

Minister. In this one year, Dr Channa Reddy went to

United States and spent two months there, for a

kidney transplant, the kidney donated by his elder

son, Marri Ravinder Reddy, and a cataract surgery.

He said he was ill for four years before, and that

anyone who noticed his swollen legs could have

guessed his problem. On his return from US, Dr

Channa Reddy was asked whether administration

had suffered in his absence. He replied: “It is not

written anywhere in the Constitution that a Chief

Minister should govern the State only from within its

boundaries. I was more accessible to officials from

New York than when I was in Hyderabad. I used to

get 200 calls daily from India. I have done it well,

and the performance of the administration was

excellent”.

Dr Channna Reddy could not scrap the subsidised

rice scheme, but he knew that there could not be one

crore families below poverty line in Andhra Pradesh,

and that the cards went largely to bogus families. He

320

ordered a sample survey of the beneficiaries in East

Godavari district. The survey results proved that his

suspicions were justified, because white cards were

given to a man owning a cinema theatre, and another

owning a petrol bunk. When the survey was in

progress, there was the public apprehension that

Government was planning to weed out a large

number of cards, and a public mood was building up

against the Congress Government.

Dr Channa Reddy sought to ridicule NTR’s schemes,

such as the installation of 30 statues of eminent

Telugu personalities on the Tank Bund, linking the

twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, as

causing distraction to vehicle drivers resulting in

traffic accidents! He wondered aloud whether he

should install the statue of Budha in the

Hussainsagar lake, as NTR proposed, or shift it to

Nagarjunasagar, because vehicle drivers can bump

into each other looking at the statue!. But when the

statue brought for installation inside the lake

drowned in the waters, because a minor official

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present misjudged the location of centre of gravity of

the boat in which the statue was carried, Dr Channa

Reddy cut short his tour to Bangalore and returned

to Hyderabad by a special flight, lest people may

think he deliberately had the statue drowned!.

The Budha statue was something dear to NTR. He

had a 800-tonne rock carved from a hill at Raigir in

Nalgonda district, which was transported to

Hyderabad, 60 kms away, in a massive trailer having

24 axles and 192 tyres. The statue had to be retrieved

from the waters, carried to its spot for installation,

and chisseled and given the final touches, much after

Dr Channa Reddy left his seat of power. Finally, the

statue weighed 350 tonnes, and stood 57.9 feet tall

and 21 feet wide. The statue was installed on a rock

inside the Hussainsagar lake and is flood lit at night

on special occassions.

Communal violence, dissidence within the Congress

(I) and Dr Channa Reddy appeared to go together,

and the biggest incidents of communal violence took

place in the old City areas in December 1990, with

322

more than 100 deaths, and for the first time since the

State’s formation, the old City was placed in the

hands of the Army. There were stabbing sprees

everywhere, and even a two year old infant was

stabbed. A Muslim constable shot dead an Assistant

Commissioner of Police, Sattiah, sitting in his jeep, at

close quarters, resulting in tension in the area. Dr

Channa Reddy went to the Osmania General

Hospital and saw the victims, and the photographs in

the press revealed their religious affiliations and

there were further repraissals.

Meanwhile, the dissidence in the Congress was

building up right from the start. One issue was the

way Ministers from Channna Reddy cabinet suddenly

abandoned Rajiv Gandhi, who was touring Andhra

Pradesh as Congress President to study flood damage

in July, 1990, and went to Delhi to receive Chief

Minister returning from US. V.Hanumantha Rao

was the only Minister to accompany Rajiv Gandhi on

all the four days he toured from July 16. At a

Congress Legislature Party meeting on July 26, 1990,

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Dr Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy demanded action against

the four Ministers who deserted Rajiv Gandhi on the

last day of the tour. On December 9, N.Srinivasulu

Reddy, Minister for Animal Husbandry, resigned

from the Cabinet, holding the Chief Minister

personally responsible for the bloodshed in the old

City. Dr Channa Reddy’s followers alleged that the

communal violence was triggered by one group inside

the Congress (I) to force Dr Channa Reddy out, and

sure enough, on December 12, 1990, Dr Channa

Reddy resigned.

But the resignation letter was not received by the

Governor, and Rajiv Gandhi, as Congress President,

was annoyed. The Congress deputed a team of

observers, as is its practice, to chose a successor, and

these observers had to delay the visit since they

cannot look for successors without a vacancy, and Dr

Channa Reddy did not resign. Finally, they arrived

on December 15, and shortly before midnight on a

new moon day, Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy was

elected as Leader. Dr Channa Reddy resigned at 2.30

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am on December 16, a time fixed by astrologers for

the event, but the previous day, he filled up posts of

chairmen for 22 corporations and chairmanship of

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, to the chagrin of

the incoming Chief Minister. Some of these

appointees were in such great hurry to take charge on

December 15, a Sunday, that they carried the file in

their cars to the Secretariat, had it personally

endorsed by the Chief Secretary, took it to the

Section for the issuance of the Government Order,

telephoned the Managing Directors of Corporations

or Executive Officer of Tirumala Tirupati

Devasthanam to be present, and assumed charge of

their offices, all within six hours flat.

Janardhana Reddy took bold, but unpopular

decisions, within one month of coming to power. He

increased the cost of subsidy rice from Rs 2 to Rs 3.50

per kg, restricted the allotment to 16 kgs per family

from 25 kgs before. His logic was that the State will

give a fixed subsidy of Rs 1.25 per kg, and increase

the cost whenever the issue price (at which Food

325


Corporation of India delivered rice to State public

distribution system) went up. In Janardhana Reddy’s

time, the food subsidy came to Rs 200 crores a year,

which amount, he said, he would use for the

development of the Assembly constituencies.

Then on May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was

assassinated at Sriperumbudur near Madras. There

was a country wide public anger at the assassination,

and NTR became the victim at the hands of

Congress (I) activists. Rajiv Gandhi was

assassinated at about 8.40 pm, by a suicide bomber

of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a fact

established by photos taken by a pro-LTTE

photographer engaged to record the event for his

organization, but somehow the camera fell into

Police hands because the LTTE operatives could not

take it away, and the truth came out. Somehow, NTR

was blamed for the assassination, and two Congress

(I) leaders who confronted NTR that night, virtually

abused NTR and menacingly advanced to him as if

to beat him. NTR was escorted to a safe place, but

326

that night, two Congress (I) MLAs came with 20

people in two jeeps and set fire to Ramakrishna

theatres in Abids and Tarakarama theatre in

Kachiguda, both owned by NTR’s sons. There was

no public participation in these arson attacks, which

was meticulously planned and operated by Congress

(I) activists. An IPS Officer testified before a

Commission of Inquiry that he was astonished to see

the MLA’s men walking in with petrol cans, and he

ordered a Police party to do a cane charge, but was

restrained by a superior officer present there. All top

Police brass of the Hyderabad City Commissionerate

were present as the theatres were burnt, as if they

were directed to supervise the event.

One of the MLAs named in the attack on

Ramakrishna theatres was P.Sudhir Kumar, son of

the one time Union Minister, P.Shivshankar. Sudhir

Kumar was abducted by the Peoples War Group of

naxalites later on, and he was set free after the

Government of N.Janardhana Reddy released three

top leaders of the PWG including Nimmaluri

327


Bhaskara Rao, member of Andhra Provincial

Committee. Sudhir Kumar subsequently became very

ill and was in hospital for more than a month. NTR

when he went to the Hospital to persuade a Telugu

Desam activist to call off her fast, called on Sudhir

Kumar and wished him speedy recovery. Sudhir

Kumar came out of the illness, but died a year later.

In the wake of Rajiv Gandhi assassination,

Congressmen settled scores with their Telugu Desam

opponents in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam districts,

attacking houses and shops of Telugu Desam leaders.

Three weeks later, the Police issued a statement

saying that 1,513 cases of attack were registered and

4,836 people were arrested in the outbreak of violence

on May 21, but none were held in custody a week

later. Police said that damage in 300 cases was less

than Rs 5,000 and in only 16 cases, it was more than

Rs 5 lakhs.

Elections to Parliament were held in two phases, and

in the elections held for 17 seats on May 20, 1991 the

Telugu Desam and its allies CPI and CPI (M) won 12

328

seats with 41.87 per cent of votes and the Congress (I)

won three seats with 39.56 per cent vote. Rajiv

Gandhi’s assassination postponed the second phase

to June 15, in which the sympathy factor prevailed

and Congress (I) obtained 21 seats, while Telugu

Desam got three seats. The results were clearly a

setback for Congress (I), and it was obvious that, but

for the assassination, the Congress (I) in power in

Andhra Pradesh, would have been trounced in the

Parliamentary elections.

The National Front came to power at Centre, and

V.P.Singh became Prime Minister. Through a clever

move, P.Upendra, who was one of the three general

secretaries of National Front along with Murasoli

Maran and a representative of Assom Gana

Parishad, got themselves inducted into the Union

Cabinet without NTR’s nod, as if it was a settled

matter between V.P.Singh and themselves. NTR went

to Delhi for a formal meeting as Chairman of

National Front, when V.P.Singh was installed as

Prime Minister, but NTR returned to Hyderabad the

329


same day. He was however nursing his hurt at the

incidents of arson and attacks on his family and on

Telugu Desam activists. He travelled to villages in

Prakasam and Guntur districts to console victims of

the attacks, and to tell them that they were not alone

in their hour of grief. NTR wanted to do something

dramatic to focus on the role of Congress (I) MLAs

and activists in these incidents.

On May 30, 1991, NTR sat in a hunger strike on the

Tank Bund, near the statue of Potuluri

Veerabrahmam, demanding a judicial enquiry into

the incidents, arrest of Congressmen involved in the

incidents, and compensation to victims of the arson.

NTR observed also a “mouna vratham” (vow of

silence), and communicated with people through slips

of paper on which he wrote messages in Telugu.

Hundreds of people stood in queues to greet him

from early morning to late in the night, and NTR

gave women “kumkum bharina” (the small vessel in

which women offer turmeric and kumkum).

NTR named P.Sudhir Kumar and M.Mukesh,

330

Congress MLAs from Hyderabad City, Vijayasimha

Reddy, and R.Damodar Reddy, Congress MLAs from

Nalgonda district as being responsible for the

attacks.

NTR’s fast became a problem for Janardhana

Reddy’s Government, but the Chief Minister allowed

NTR time to decide for himself how he will end the

fast. But NTR became adament. He was a diabetic,

and a diabetic refraining from food has the chance of

lapsing into a coma, and so his family became

anxious that somehow NTR should be forcefully fed.

NTR was determined to continue his fast till the

Chief Minister conceded his demands, while his

family was equally determined to see that the fast

was broken, forcibly if necessary, in order to preserve

his health. Janardhana Reddy thought that NTR’s

fast will slowly lose public interest and go out of the

front pages of newspapers, but public interest

continued to intensify and NTR’s fast and health

became the talking points in the State. As the crowds

began to grow on the Tankbund, the Government

331


decided to shift NTR from there. Two hours after

midnight on June 2, Police cordoned off the entire

stretch of Tankbund, with a big Police force, and

arrested NTR and removed him to the Nizams

Institute of Medical Sciences.

NTR was determined to continue his hungerstrike

inside the Hospital, and NTR’s sons and daughters

came one by one to see him. NTR said he will give

up the fast if the Government ordered an enquiry and

sanctioned compensation to the victims, but

Government was not willing to concede the demands.

Government maintained that they did not arrest

NTR and Doctors at the NIMS said they cannot

administer saline to NTR unless he was arrested, but

Janardhana Reddy’s Government was vacillating .

NTR was actually arrested on the night of June 2,

and therefore the NIMS Hospital premises was

ringed with Police units as if to prevent NTR from

running away. But the Government was unwilling to

tell the Doctors attending on NTR that he was under

arrest.

332

Janardhana Reddy made an attempt to resolve the

deadlock, by inviting Leaders of Opposition parties

to come to his house for a discussion. The Leaders of

Communist Parties and others went to the CM’s

residence, which was just one kilometre from the

NIMS, from the Raj Bhavan Road side, but Police

did not permit them to walk into the House, saying

they should come from the Swapna Nursing Home

side gate, which was one kilometre away through a

roundabout route, and they had to travel by cars.

The leaders wanted the Security to consult their Chief

Minister, but Janardhana Reddy had gone to attend

a marriage and was expected to return in 15 minutes.

The Opposition leaders saw no point in waiting, it

became a matter of prestige for them as they had

come by walk, and they returned to the NIMS to

report failure of their mission to NTR.

At this stage, Chandrababu Naidu, as NTR’s son-in-

law and General Secretary of Telugu Desam,

telephoned P.Upendra who was Union Minister for

Information in V.P.Singh Government, and urged him

333


to have the Centre to respond to NTR’s demands in

some way or other. Upendra reportedly rebuffed

Chandrababu, saying that the “old man should be

asked to give up his fast first, there is nothing else

anybody could do now”. Upendra’s response hurt

Telugu Desam activists, but times had changed, and

NTR was in Opposition while Upendra was in power.

Then suddenly in the morning, the Police was

withdrawn from NIMS, and Doctors were informed

that NTR was never under arrest. He was kept in

the Intensive Care Unit of NIMS for two days, but

NTR briskly walked out of the Hospital, called for

his Chaitanya Ratham, and addressed small crowds

from his vehicle criticising the Government for

encouraging to attacks on Telugu Desam activists.

NTR’s brisk walk and his ride on Chaitanya

Ratham demonstrated that he had the requisite

strength which he frequently proclaimed through his

“notes” that were read out to the press, while

observing silence.

The Government said that NTR was taken to the

334

NIMS only on the advice of the expert team

attending on him. “The team included two doctors

chosen by Sri Rama Rao himself. Even at the

Hospital, when Sri Rama Rao refused to take

medical treatment, no attempt was made to force

feed him. It was only when the doctors attending on

Sri Rama Rao requested Police to obtain orders from

the Magistrate to force feed him, the Police filed a

petition and took orders. The doctors carried out the

orders of the Magistrate, and gave Sri Rama Rao

fluids intraveneously at 8.40 am”. He scored a

political point by going to the people and putting

Congress men on the dock, but Janardhana Reddy

did not concede any demand and held his ground.

NTR made a mistake, as he publicly acknowledged

later, of helping P.V.Narasimha Rao to get elected to

Lok Sabha from Nandyal constituency without a

Telugu Desam candidate in the field. PV became

Prime Minister after the 1991 elections, though he

did not contest for Parliament, as Rajiv Gandhi was

assassinated and Congress power equations were in a

335


flux in Delhi. After the Cabinet installation, NTR

met P.V. twice in Delhi, and said since P.V was a

“Telugu bidda” (a Telugu child), the first Prime

Minister from the South, it was necessary to help him

to win the election without contest, and therefore

Telugu Desam would not field a candidate against

him. The BJP however fielded its future National

President, Bangaru Lakshman, against P.V.

K.Vijayabhaskara Reddy, who was Union Minister,

wanted PV’s margin of victory to be so big that it

would enter the Guinness Book of Records, but he

was later told that the biggest margin was some one

crore votes polled by a Deputy in the elections to the

Soviet Parliament during the Communist regime.

Though polling was very dull at Nandyal, and voters

were conspicuous by their absence, PV won the

election by a huge margin of five lakh votes, polling

just short of 90 per cent of votes cast, and Bangaru

Lakshman, as expected, lost his deposit. He did not

poll 90 per cent, because under the rules then in force,

there would have been a need for a re-election if any

candidate polled more than 90 per cent of votes cast.

336

Telugu Desam however won the by-election to the

Assembly from Allagadda, which was simulteneously

held, and which was part of Nandyal Lok Sabha

seat.

In NTR’s words, PV repaid his debt of gratitude by

splitting the Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party.

There were 13 Members of Lok Sabha belonging to

Telugu Desam, and it became necessary for PV’s

survival to entice some of them. In 1992, the BJP

moved an amendment to a Government resolution

and pressed for division in Lok Sabha, and

inexplicably, 9 Telugu Desam MPs out of 13

abstained from voting, sending a jolt to NTR, but

helping P.V. to tide over the crisis. Dr Daggubati

Venkateswara Rao, NTR’s elder son-in-law and an

MP, returned from Delhi one evening, to realise that

eight MPs were actually in the Lok Sabha Speaker’s

chamber, ready to give a letter announcing a split in

the Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party. The efforts

of Dr Venkateswara Rao and N.Chandrababu Naidu

to contact their MPs were in vain.

337


Actually six MPs finally announced that they formed

a group, and were expelled by NTR from Telugu

Desam. This splinter group was headed by

B.Vijayakumar Raju of Narsapur in West Godavari

district, who owned a paper mill, P.Ganga Reddy, an

arrack contractor of Nizamabad, A.Indrakaran

Reddy of Adilabad, who subsequently became a

Congress MLA, K.P.Reddiah of Krishna district,

K.V.R.Chowdhary of Rajahmundry and Thota

Ramaswamy of Kakinada. Two other MPs, B.Bulli

Ramiah of Eluru and Ganti Mohana Chandra

Balayogi of Amalapuram (who later became Speaker

of Lok Sabha and died in an air crash) retracted from

their letter, but the Speaker, Shivraj Patil, threatened

to disqualify them for defecting from a group of

defectors, without constituting one third of the group

of defectors. M.V.V.S.Murthy of Visakhapatnam

was also part of the group that originally planned to

split, but he later retraced his steps.

These 6 MPs said that they had split the Party in

order to save Telugu Desam from falling into the

338

machinations of NTR’s two sons-in-law, but it came

to light much later, in the court case concerning the

Jarkand Mukti Morcha MPs bribery case, that an

industrialist of Delhi, an arrack contractor of

Bangalore, among others, gave Rs one crore to each

of 15 MPs of various smaller parties to support P.V.’s

Government, and the 6 MPs from Telugu Desam were

part of this group. Those days, P.V was praised for

being an “apara chanakya” when he easily converted

his minority into a majority, but when the truth came

out, his term was dismissed as being remarkable only

for “bribery and forgery”. PV was convicted in the

JMM bribery case to three years in jail, but he

obtained a stay from the High Court. The forgery

referred to the St Kitts Island bank account case of

V.P.Singh’s son, in which PV allegedly asked a

consular official in United States to authenticate a

forged document.

NTR became suspicious about his own MLAs in

another controversy that rocked Janardhana Reddy’s

Government during April 1991. This related to the

339


approval of tenders at 67 per cent excess cost for a

World Bank aided project of digging irrigation

canals under Sriramsagar project and Srisailam

Right Branch canal schemes. Telugu Desam

demanded that the excess tenders be cancelled, and

Janardhana Reddy agreed to do so at first, but later

said Government had no power to cancel and sent the

files to the World Bank.

It all started with the State Government signing an

agreement on May 28, 1986 for a loan of Rs 315

crores for Srisailam Right Branch canal and Rs 293

crores for Sriramsagar sub-Project. The credit and

loan were effective October 2, 1987 and the project

was to be completed by December, 1993. According

to agreement, 57 per cent of works had to be given

under International Competitive Bidding, in which

there is pre-qualification of tenders, to ensure that

invitation to bid is given to only those capable of

executing the works. When tenders were called for,

the Government introduced a new rule, and used the

modified rule to disqualify big firms like Larson &

340

Toubro, Dodsal and National Projects Construction

Company, because “they did not perform similar

work under similar conditions and similar type”

during the past six years. The amended rule enabled

only five out of 45 applicants to be qualified for

bidding. These five contractors formed into a group

and bid Rs 200 crores for works that were estimated

to have required only Rs 120 crores. Telugu Desam

MLAs said that when Telugu Desam Government

adopted the same procedure, they got contractors

bidding 20 per cent less than Government estimates.

The issue led to a furore in the Assembly debate, and

dominated public discussion for a week, but the issue

was not raised again in the Assembly or on a

political forum. NTR heard that some Telugu

Desam MLAs were also given some amounts so that

the issue does not figure again, and NTR was

anguished at this course of events and spent time

enquiring from his visitors so that he could get at the

truth.

Janardhana Reddy was not allowed to settle down in

341


office, because of the dissidence in the Party. A

group six Ministers openly defied him and wanted

change of leadership. Then one day, Janardhana

Reddy gave, at one go, permission to start a dozen

private medical and dental colleges in the State. One

of the applicants from Nellore district was a College

management, in which the Chief Minister’s wife and

brother figured as promotors, but Janardhana Reddy

denied knowledge of this college, and asserted that

he was not personally interested in any applicants.

This fact was commented upon by the High Court

and Janardhana Reddy was asked to resign. Kotla

Vijayabhaskara Reddy became the third Congress

Chief Minister to take over, in October, 1993.

Vijayabhaskara Reddy was a senior Congress leader,

who was the Chairman of Kurnool Zilla Parishad in

1960s. He was reputed to have been able to call

atleast ten people by name in every village of

Kurnool district. Vijaybhaskara Reddy had come a

long way from then on, and in September 1992,

Vijayabhaskara Reddy was a Member of Parliament

342

when he was made Chief Minister of Andhra

Pradesh. He had to become an MLA within six

months, and so the Panyam seat in Kurnool district

was vacated by a Congress MLA, and the Chief

Minister contested from there in a by-election.

NTR had a new experience while campaigning in the

constituency. Panyam was a small constituency

consisting of a Banganapalli zamindari, famous for

its mangoes, and a place where slabs for flooring are

available, Bethamcherla. But Telugu Desam

candidates and workers found it extraordinarily

difficult to get a room for rent, or a house for

locating Telugu Desam office. A tent on the

pavement outside the State Guest House at

Banganapalli was the election office of Telugu

Desam candidate, Renuka Chowdhary, contesting

against Vijayabhaskara Reddy. The Chief Minister’s

cutouts, banners and buntings were there everywhere

in the constituency, and the NTR cutouts or banners

were conspicuous by their absence.

At Veldurthy, a Telugu Desam worker said that the

343


party was prevented from drawing water from a well,

and the food had to be obtained from outside the

town by tiffin carriers. Congress leaders however

enjoyed Government hospitality in the Guest Houses

in the constituencies where liveried servants served

food. NTR drew big crowds in his campaign in the

constituency, and he stayed at the Panyam Cements

guest house. Referring to this, Vijayabhaskara Reddy

said in a campaign speech that he can “throw out the

proprietors” out of Panyam for giving hospitality to

NTR!. Vijayabhaskara Reddy easily won the by-

election.

Then on August 7, 1993, a Telugu Desam MLA and

former Minister, Perugu Siva Reddy, was murdered at

the Sathya Sai kalyana mandapam in Srinagar

Colony of Hyderabad, as he attended a marriage.

His rivals threw bombs at him and killed him

instantly. NTR arrived on the scene, took the body

and went to Raj Bhavan, asking the Governor,

Krishan Kant, to do him justice. This was an

extraordinary demonstration, and the Governor did

344

not know how to handle the case. He tried to

persuade NTR to take the body out of Raj Bhavan,

and mount a political battle elsewhere. After

brooding over the matter for an hour, NTR agreed.

The issue dominated the Assembly session, but Chief

Minister Vijayabhaskara Reddy rejected a demand

for a judicial enquiry, on the ground it would take lot

of time, while the Police will be doing a “good and

effective job”. On August 13, NTR demanded that

the Chief Minister talk about the statement of a

Union Minister in PV’s Cabinet, Rajesh Pilot,

offering a CBI enquiry into the murder.

Vijayabhaskara Reddy wondered how could a Union

Minister order an enquiry without his knowledge.

At the end of an acrimonious debate, all the 70

Telugu Desam MLAs were suspended from the

Assembly for their “disorderly behaviour”, and about

100 Marshalls entered the House to physically

remove each one of them. It was on that day that

NTR announced that he would never enter the

Assembly as long as the Congress (I) was in power.

345


He kept his word, entering the House again as Chief

Minister in January, 1995.

346

NTR was able to successfully overcome his first

political crisis, by mobilising public opinion in his

favour and having the support of national leaders of

Opposition Parties, because it was a political coup

staged with Congress (I) support. However, he

became a victim of the second political crisis, in

which the people had no role to play. NTR was

embroiled in a struggle for power between Nara

Chandrababu Naidu, his son-in-law, and Lakshmi

Parvathi, whom he married in his 70th year. NTR

was defeated by his own family, consisting of his

seven sons, four daughters, and two sons-in-law, who

were able to mobilise Telugu Desam MLAs on the

slogan of “helping NTR distance himself from

Lakshmi Parvathi”. NTR stood alone, isolated in his

house, misled by senior officials whom he trusted,

that the revolt was only against Lakshmi Parvathi

and not against himself.

NTR saw the crisis coming, but he was blinded by his

own soft corner for his sons and daughters who, he

thought, would never attempt to stab him in the

Lakshmi Parvathi and NTR’sSecond Political Crisis

347


back. If only he stood firm the MLAs would fall in

line, he thought. He had no contingency plans in

case the MLAs rose in revolt against his leadership,

and when the actual revolt materialised, NTR was

caught completely off guard and he made clumsy

attempts to retain his power. He was easily

outmaneuvered by Chandrababu Naidu, with the

support of all the Opposition parties in the State.

Ummareddi Venkateswarlu, the Telugu Desam

Member of Parliament, in his book: “Chandrababu

Naidu – in pursuit of excellence” - explains how the

MLAs became bold and impatient, during August

1995, as NTR remained stubborn in his support to

Lakshmi Parvathi, and not amenable to logic. “The

MLAs readied themselves for a direct fight with

Lakshmi Parvathi. Even as the stage was being set for

an all out war, there were attempts by NTR to make

Lakshmi Parvathi a Deputy Chief Minister. This,

inspite of the fact that she was not even an MLA.

September 9th was the muhurtham for this ceremony.”

Reports such as these provoked MLAs loyal to NTR

348

to shift sides because they did not like to see Lakshmi

Parvathi become Deputy Chief Minister. For these

MLAs the fight against NTR was just the next step.

NTR’s second political crisis was the result of a

power struggle that developed between

Chandrababu and Lakshmi Parvathi in NTR’s

household in which Lakshmi Parvathi appeared to be

winning, and so Chandrababu’s followers changed

the target of the attack, sidestepped Lakshmi

Parvathi and went all out to replace NTR himself. It

is a matter of conjecture that if Lakshmi Parvathi

was content to have been a mere housewife, without

political ambition, then NTR might have continued

as Chief Minsiter till his death, with Chandrababu

playing a vital role in the Telugu Desam Party and in

the Government.

A number of factors caused the serious political crisis

for NTR. Chandrababu was not a Minister in

NTR’s Government from 1983 to 89, but he was

General Secretary of Telugu Desam, a close confident

of NTR, and regarded himself as a balancing factor

349


in preventing NTR from taking erratic decisions on

impulse. Chandrababu was the family’s choice of a

successor to NTR. NTR’s temperamental behaviour

and his autocratic approach to party and

Government have been attracting the attention of the

people now and then in the past. NTR said, at a

Mahanadu of the Telugu Desam in Viyayawada in

May, 1988: “Those that want me to change can as

well leave the Party. I will never, never change. This

Party has come with me, and it will go with me”. It

was difficult to reconcile this statement of NTR with

what he said earlier at the same meeting, that he

would respect the party rank and file and take them

along with him. NTR generally compared himself

with M.G.Ramachandran, and he saw how MGR

was able to act on impulse and get away with it,

without anyone in the Party challenging him, but

NTR’s following in Andhra Pradesh was not as

militant as MGR’s in Tamilnadu. NTR felt that he

alone represented the people’s mandate because

people voted for NTR, just as people did for Indira

Gandhi or M.G.Ramachandran.

350

In 1989 he made the mistake of combining both

Assembly and Parliament elections together, and lost

power by a margin of two per cent votes. He

inexplicably changed candidates at the very last

minute in Nizamabad and Srikakulam districts, and

the candidates so replaced contested as Independents

and won, thus damaging NTR’s chances of retaining

power. Candidates to whom he gave “B” forms, that

entitled them to get the TDP symbol in the elections,

were replaced the next morning, as the candidates

were on their way to file nominations on the last day.

The situation by 1990 was that the powerful Eenadu

Editor, Ramoji Rao, felt that NTR was incapable of

administering the State because of his erratic

decisions and emotional outbursts. And Eenadu

editorially advised NTR on May 16, 1991 to step

down from Party presidentship, hand over power to a

younger group in the Party, and quit. In an editorial

titled: “The brother’s self-criticism”, Eenadu said

“one has to suspect the bonafides of any statement

by NTR that he would correct his mistakes and

351


change his style of functioning, because both are

beyond his capacity. NTR fails because he introduces

histroinics into his political agenda. The eight years

from 1982 has shown that even the mighty gods

could not transform the Party. If NTR retires from

politics, it would be good for the Party, for NTR

himself and for Andhra Pradesh”, Eenadu had said.

The first rebellion against NTR came from Renuka

Chowdhary, then a Telugu Desam MP, and President

of Hyderabad district TDP. When an enquiry

committee met her at the instance of NTR, in 1992,

she asked them: “Who is that fellow to enquire

against me?”. At that time, Chandrababu adopted

an ambivalent attitude, but NTR said an insult

against the leader was an insult against the entire

Party, and expelled her from the Party. She later

joined Congress (I) and won the Khammam seat in

Lok Sabha on Congress (I) ticket in 1999.

NTR was a loner, and had very few friends. His

sons and daughers came to him when they wanted to

tell him something about their financial or family

352

problems, and left after their conversation was over,

just like any other visitors. Once as Leader of

Opposition, NTR attended his grand daughter’s

marriage at a hall in Secunderabad, and he sat

alone, talking to the press, as the family apparently

ignored him, though he did not bring Lakshmi

Parvathi for the marriage. One did not see him

playing with his grandchildren, or having a family

get together. He had however immense attachment

to his sons and daughters, to each of whom he built

palatial houses and gifted them enough money to live

a life of leisure. But he would not display his

affection. None of his sons inherited his spark. Once

in 1988, NTR announced that his actor son,

Balakrishna, would be his political heir, but there

was so much criticism from the Congress (I), and so

much underground support for such criticism within

Telugu Desam, orchestrated by Chandrababu, that

NTR was forced not to persue that objective.

During his first political crisis during August –

September 1984, NTR’s wife, Basavatarakam, died

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of cancer, and he went to Madras for the funeral and

returned the next day. From then on, NTR lived the

life of an ascetic, but he was yearning for some

demonstrative affection from his numerous family

which was not forthcoming.

Lakshmi Parvathi came from a poor Kamma family

near Tenali in Guntur district, having studied upto

SSC, while her mother was worried about the burden

of marrying her off. A Harikatha exponent,

Veeragandham Subba Rao, was an occassional

visitor to the house. He was a widower, 25 years

elder to Lakshmi Parvathi, and he offered to marry

her, educate her, and provide for her. The mother

consented for the marriage, and Lakshmi Parvathi

married Subba Rao and begot a son.

In 1985, Subba Rao and Lakshmi Parvathi, both

admirers of NTR, came to Hyderabad and met the

Chief Minister. As usual with such admirers,

Lakshmi Parvathi touched NTR’s feet, and said they

were silent workers for Telugu Desam and would

carry out any order NTR might give them for the

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Party. They met NTR in Delhi again a year later.

Travelling with her Harikatha exponent husband,

Lakshmi Parvathi picked up knowledge of the

puranas and itihasas, and completed M.A degree in

Telugu literature through distance education. She

enrolled for an M.Phil degree in Telugu University,

and got a job as a College Lecturer at

Narasaraopet. Every time she came to the University

in Hyderabad, she used to call on NTR, and after

NTR’s defeat in 1989 elections, she got better access

as he was free, and one day offered to write NTR’s

biography if he agreed to give her interviews.

NTR was fascinated by her, and he liked the way she

interpreted stories from mythology with a modern

perspective, explained the meaning of slokas, and

discussed the characters of Rama and Krishna, as

interpreted in various languages and cultures of

South Asia. Having played the roles of all

mythological heroes, NTR had some basic

knowledge and he liked the way she argued with him.

After Basavatarakam’s death, NTR created a trust in

355


her name, and built an Indo-American

Basavatarakam Cancer Hospital in Hyderabad with

donations from a women’s group of Non Resident

Indians in the United States. As part of the Trust, he

had an office in Hyderabad, and NTR made

Lakshmi Parvathi resign as Lecturer and join the

trust, so that she can stay in the Trust office in Road

No 13, Banjara Hills, just opposite his own house in

Hyderabad.

NTR was a diabetic, and had undergone a heart

bypass surgery performed by the famous surgeon,

Denton Cooly in 1984 US. He suffered a stroke in

1993. At that time, Lakshmi Parvathi was with him,

and she took him to Nizams Institute of Medical

Sciences and admitted him there. She nursed him

through the illness. NTR’s daughters were upset that

it was Lakshmi Parvathi who admitted NTR in the

Hospital, not any of them. The sons and daughters

thought that Lakshmi Parvathi was a clever woman

trying to entice NTR in order to get a major share of

his property, and that her love and affection was part

356

of a drama, and that what she was interested in was

just money. They thought that if they put sufficient

pressure on NTR, he would give up the woman. But

NTR was grateful to her for what she did to him in

his illness, and refused to entertain any idea of

leaving her. His sons -in -law talked to him about

the political implications of a leader of the stature of

NTR living with a married woman openly, and about

this prospect being exploited by the Congress (I) to

the detriment of Telugu Desam’s return to power in

the 1994 general elections.

Lakshmi Parvathi was never accepted by NTR’s

family, then or now. But she was very keen to have a

child from NTR, and she underwent a recanalisation

operation in order to be able to beget a child, since

they were living together as man and wife. The

recanalisation was done at a Government maternity

hospital in Hyderabad, and not in a privated nursing

home. Dr Mahalakshmma was Superintendent of

that Hospital at that time, and this was done much

before NTR married Lakshmi Parvathi. NTR

357


started to use steroids to fulfil her desire, which

harmed his health.

NTR decided that it was better to marry Lakshmi

Parvathi and face the consequences, rather than live

together in a house, giving rise to rumours. He

decided that he would do so in public, at the 100th day

celebrations of his last successful film, Major

Chandrakanth, at Tirupati on September 11, 1993.

The film was produced by another film star, Mohan

Babu, who organised the big event, and he brought

Lakshmi Parvathi to the venue as the function was in

progress. When NTR was invited to speak, he looked

at the big audience, and shouted at Lakshmi

Parvathi: “Lakshmi, come on to the dias”. When she

was getting on to the dias, Chandrababu Naidu left

the dias, as he knew what NTR was going to do next

and did not want to be a witness. As NTR was

announcing that he was going to marry Lakshmi

Parvathi, the mike system went dead, but anyway, in

the confusion, NTR tied the mangala sutram around

Lakshmi Parvathi’s neck and thus they became man

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and wife in full public view. This became the lead

story in the Telugu press.

The news was taken in good stride by the people in

general, and an anticipated controversy at a 70- year

old widower marrying a 30 year old divorcee did not

come about. For one, NTR was in the Opposition,

and people thought this a marriage of convenience,

in which an elderly leader at the end of his career

wanted someone to look after him, and generally the

public blamed NTR’s 11 children for allowing him to

live alone when he needed to be looked after.

In 1994, NTR took Lakshmi Parvathi along with him

in all his tours, and she actually became a hit in the

major public rallies, called “Praja Garjana” (the roar

of people), NTR organised at Rajahmundry, Kurnool

and Hyderabad before the general elections. She

travelled with him in his Chaitanya Ratham

throughout the length and breadth of the State in a

gruelling campaign trail. NTR won a landslide

victory, winning 220 seats for Telugu Desam and

helping the CPI and CPI (M) to win 34 seats together,

359


(the largest number they ever won in AP) while the

Congress(I) was left with 29 seats in the Assembly.

NTR was sworn in as Chief Minister for the third

time on 12 December 1994 at a huge rally in Lal

Bahadur stadium.

In NTR’s dispensation, Chandrababu Naidu played

a key role in distribution of party tickets, and had a

number of MLAs loyal to him. With the advent of

Lakshmi Parvathi, there was a perceptible change, as

she also played a role in distribution of party tickets,

and had her own group of loyalists. She made

choices for candidates to contest the Municipal and

Cooperative society elections, and these choices

prevailed because of her access with NTR.

Party leaders routinely met Lakshmi Parvathi before

meeting NTR, and Chandrababu’s influence in the

Party and Government started to diminish. At a

function to honour Lakshmi Parvathi, organised by a

womens organization, NTR said, in the presence of

Jayalalitha, who came as Chief Guest, that he wished

to see Lakshmi Parvathi as a people’s representative.

360

NTR won from two constituencies, Hindupur and

Tekkali, and NTR resigned from Tekkali, and so a

by-election was due there on May 27. Lakshmi

Parvathi was keen to contest.

NTR’s family sensed danger in Lakshmi Parvathi

becoming an MLA, because she would then want to

become a Minister, and ultimately usurp NTR’s

legacy. So, NTR’s son, Harikrishna, who drove

NTR’s Chaitanya Ratham in all campaigns from

1982 onwards, demanded that he should be

considered for the Tekkali seat. NTR did not

anticipate such a demand from Harikrishna, but he

understood the implication, and deferred the idea of

making Lakshmi Parvathi an MLA. But the growing

influence of Lakshmi Parvathi in the Government,

and her daily visits to the Secretariat with a lunch

basket for NTR, made NTR’s family become more

and more suspicious. They always considered her an

usurper but did not understand what made NTR

fawn on her.

Chandrababu started to sound each MLA whom he

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trusted about Lakshmi Parvathi’s role. At that time,

there was no talk of rebelling against NTR. When

Chandrababu Naidu was confident he had the

support of a sizeable number, he acted in June, six

months after TDP came to power. Elections to 5,000

primary agricultural cooperative societies were

conducted in May, and in the subsequent elections,

the Presidents of these PACs elected 10 to 12 Directors

of District Cooperative Central Banks, who among

themselves would elect the Presidents of DCCBs. The

TDP was in a position to win all DCCBs, but in

Karimnagar, Adilabad and Cuddapah districts, the

official nominees, handpicked by Lakshmi Parvathi,

were defeated and dissident TDP men were elected,

because of large scale absence of TDP Directors.

This was the beginning of the crisis. NTR warned

two Ministers, Kadiam Srihari and G.Nagesh, and

suspended 8 MLAs for defying the party whip. These

MLAs were close to Chandrababu, and had acted

under Chandrababu’s instructions.

Then on August 20, 1995, NTR addressed a rally in

362

Parvatipuram, and was walking to the helicopter,

when a youth, sitting in the VIP enclosure, caught

hold of his feet as if by way of showing respect, but

NTR tripped and fell. NTR regarded the incident as

a bad omen, and he was profusely bleeding from the

nose, as the steel frame of his glasses pierced through

the nose. Lakshmi Parvathi was a few steps behind,

while a doctor applied bandage and stopped the

bleeding.

Chandrababu displayed an open defiance of the

leader, when he put up a show of strength while he

travelled in a convoy of about 40 cars in

Visakhapatnam with big fanfare, quite unusual for a

Minister, while NTR was in town. At

Visakhapatnam, Chandrababu wanted to confront

NTR along with a number of Ministers and MLAs,

and complain against Lakshmi Parvathi. But this

was abandoned, and instead a delegation consisting

T.Devender Goud, Minister and S.V.Subba Reddy,

Kurnool MLA, were sent to talk to NTR. NTR

abused them for daring to tell him to separate from

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his legally wedded wife. On August 23,

Chandrababu put up another show of defiance at

the Secretariat in Hyderabad, when he met a stream

of TDP MLAs in his chambers, signing a

memorandum to NTR, demanding revocation of

suspension of 8 MLAs. Chandrababu anticipated

that NTR would try to reach these MLAs, and so he

shifted all these MLAs to the Viceroy Hotel on the

Lower Tank Bund, owned by P.Prabhakara Reddy,

who was the brother-in-law of B.Gopalakrishna

Reddy, an MLA from Chittoor district and a close

friend of Chandrababu. Prabhakara Reddy was the

son of the Janata MP, P.Babul Reddy, and later on he

became a Telugu Desam MP, and a Treasurer of the

Party.

The theme on which MLAs rallied behind

Chandrababu was that Lakshmi Parvathi had

created a situation in which NTR was no longer able

to act according to his judgment, that she was an

ambitious woman who wants to be declared as

NTR’s political heir, keeping away from him all

364

those who worked closely with him since 1983. The

MLAs saw that all the sons, sons-in-law and

daughters supported Chandrababu’s coup, and they

thought this was in the best interests of the Party.

As Ummareddy Venkateswarlu writes, the idea was

for all the MLAs to confront NTR and stage a

dharna before his house, demanding that he should

preferably send Lakshmi Parvathi out of the house.

On August 23, a majority of MLAs were with NTR,

and NTR had the opportunity to consolidate his hold

on the Party and could have diffused the crisis by

taking preemptive action. But NTR was Chief

Minister, and depended too heavily on official

intelligence and lacked political advisors who could

have devised methods of keeping the MLAs intact.

Further, Lakshmi Parvathi was no match to

Chandrababu in political maneuvre.

On August 24, a virtual exodus took place to

Chandrababu because of a wrong step taken by

NTR. S.Ramachandra Rao was a lawyer who

365


appeared for Dronamraju Sathyanarayana, a

Congress (I) functionary, in a public interest petition

listing 198 charges of corruption, nepotism and

moral turpitude against NTR in 1988. Dronamraju

became a Member of Rajya Sabha on Congress (I)

ticket, and Ramachandra Rao did not get sufficient

recognition for his hard work and distanced himself

from the Congress (I). He was made Advocate

General by NTR after he became Chief Minister in

December, 1994. NTR naturally consulted him

about dissolution of the Assembly as the only option

available for him to overcome the crisis. The

Advocate General told him that the Governor was

bound to accept such a suggestion, if it was in the

form of a Cabinet resolution, and he even offered to

speak to the then Prime Minister, P.V.Narasimha

Rao, seeking his help in this regard. But the next day,

Ramachandra Rao shifted loyalties and appeared in

the Chandrababu camp, saying that the Governor

cannot advise of a Chief Minister who lost majority

support in the Assembly . The leakage of the move

caused immense damage to NTR, because another

366

50 to 60 MLAs walked over to Chandrababu in one

day since they did not want to face the electorate

within eight months of general elections.

Events moved fast on August 24, 1995, at NTR’s

house and at Viceroy Hotel. NTR tried to reach out

to his son, Harikrishna, offering him the post of

General Secretary of TDP but the latter rejected it.

NTR’s hopes rested on having the Governor dissolve

the Assembly. On August 28, S.Ramachandra Rao as

Advocate General under N.T.Rama Rao as Chief

Minister, argued before a division bench of the

Andhra Pradesh High Court that NTR had no

legitimacy or Constitutional authority to continue

as Chief Minister after the Speaker upheld

Chandrababu’s claim.

At the Viceroy Hotel, the theme of discussion

changed. NTR’s actor-son, Balakrishna, made a last

minute effort at reconciliation, and met NTR to

request him to keep Lakshmi Parvathi away from

politics, and away from NTR’s decision making

group. NTR agreed. Balakrishna conveyed this

367


assurance to Chanrababu, and other members of the

family, but they thought whatever assurance NTR

gave about Lakshmi Parvathi will have no meaning

because NTR was capable of reversing the decisions

a few days later. The time has come to replace NTR

as Leader, and elect Chandrababu in his place. So on

August 24, a total of 144 MLAs out of the 220 Telugu

Desam members assembled at a cinema theatre, and

formally elected Chandrababu as the Leader of

Telugu Desam Legislature Party, replacing NTR.

Dr Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, Leader of Telugu

Desam Parliamentary Party and an elder son-in-law

of NTR, proposed Chandrababu’s name, and NTR’s

son, Harikrishna, seconded it. NTR’s other sons,

film star Balakrishna, Ramakrishna, Jayasankar

Krishna, extended their support to Chandrababu.

The Speaker of the Assembly, Yanamala

Ramakrishnudu, issued a bulletin, announcing

Chandrababu’s election as Leader.

At 7 am on August 25, NTR presided over his

truncated Cabinet meeting with 21 Ministers, which

368

adopted a resolution, seeking dissolution of the

Assembly, and NTR went to Raj Bhavan to hand over

the letter to the Governor, Krishan Kant. The

Governor advised him to take a vote of confidence in

the Assembly on August 31, but NTR asked for time

till September 15 for the confidence vote, citing the

instance of Governor Ram Lal giving one month to

Nadendla Bhaskara Rao during a similar crisis in

August 1984. But Krishan Kant rejected the demand.

Later that day, the TDP MLAs supporting

Chandrababu came in three buses to Raj Bhavan for

a parade, but the Governor directed the Speaker of

the Assembly to verify their claim that 144 MLAs

were supporting Chandrababu.

NTR was already a defeated man, and he knew he

lost out in the numbers game, but still held on to his

views on Lakshmi Parvathi. He said that the

propoganda against Lakshmi Parvathi was

unjustified. If any MLA could produce a single piece

of evidence of Lakshmi Parvathi taking bribe, then

he would banish her from his house. “They are

369


speaking out of jealousy”, NTR said. Just as

Nadendla Bhaskara Rao said 11 years earlier, NTR

said that “these MLAs were taken to a Hotel where

they were held prisoners with promises of money and

power”

NTR’s next step was predictable – he decided to go

on a whirlwind tour of the State, to ask the people to

pressure their MLAs to act according to the mandate

they gave in December, 1994. By August 27,

Chandrababu Naidu’s strength rose to 164. The

Chandrababu camp put out a novel argument to win

over MLAs from NTR camp. This was that since

Chandrababu would be legally recognised as the

Leader of Telugu Desam, the group of 56 MLAs still

supporting NTR will lose their recognition since they

do not constitute a “split” in the party, because they

do not amount to one-third the strength of the

Legislature party under the Anti-Defection Law.

Therefore, they will not have any legal status, and so,

if Chandrababu wanted, he can ask the Speaker to

disqualify all of the 56 MLAs still supporting NTR,

370

branding them as defectors. The exodus was so fast

that Chandrababu Naidu had to make a statement

that he welcomed all TDP MLAs into his camp,

“except the dirty dozen” Ministers loyal to Lakshmi

Parvathi.

On August 27, Tamil film star Rajnikant arrived with

film star Mohan Babu to express support to

Chandrababu. Rajnikant told MLAs in

Chandrababu camp to show their “respect to NTR

by always keeping a vacant chair on the dias” just as

DMK leaders did in the 1950s, keeping a vacant chair

for Periar E.V.Ramaswami Naicker after they split

the Dravida Kazhagam. Ranjikant accused Lakshmi

Parvathi of having become an “evil force, and if she

had her say, Telugu Desam would become a burial

ground”

The next day, former Prime Minister, V.P.Singh, came,

as he said, “uninvited”, seeking a reconciliation “as

the most sagacious way out of the situation”.

V.P.Singh said he “felt sorry for what has happened”.

His mission ended in a failure because he was under

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the impression that Lakshmi Parvathi was the cause

of the crisis while the issue was replacing NTR as

Leader.

By August 26, it was clear that Chandrababu was

going to be sworn in as the next Chief Minister.

NTR wrote a letter to the Governor saying that “the

will of the people and their overwhelming mandate is

sought to be thwarted by manipulative politics,

intrigue, deception and midnight coups. When a

mandate is being thwarted, the only fair and

appropriate forum for decision is the people. In all

established parliamentary democracies, when the

Head of a Government seeks dissolution, it is granted

automatically. The fundamental principle that

governs a democracy is the legitimacy of the elected

Government, and the people’s will behind it. This

legitimacy can never be acquired by manipulaive

politics”. The Governor ignored the letter, because it

was obvious that Chandrababu had a majority of the

MLAs with him while NTR lost his majority. Is the

Governor bound by the advice of a Chief Minister

who lost majority support?

372

NTR maintained that when the people voted for

Telugu Desam in December 1994 elections, they voted

for him as the Leader, and they “clearly,

unambiguously and explicitly understood” that he

would lead the Government for the full term of the

House!

Meanwhile, NTR’s family stood firmly and unitedly

against him. It was NTR’s turn to climb down step

by step to placate his family and MLAs. Lakshmi

Parvathi issued a statement, apologising to the

Telugu people “with folded hands, with tear filled

eyes, with a heart heavy with remorse” for the

mistakes she committed because of lack of

experience and lack of understanding. “For a small

mistake, the punishment is too big. From today, I will

have no role in politics. I will not interfere in any

aspect of the Government. I will be content to

remain a servant to NTR whom I worship, and I

appeal to you to believe me”. The NTR family

dismissed the statement as part of a drama.

Then on August 31, the date set by the Governor

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Krishan Kant for NTR to prove his majority in the

Assembly, NTR had a pain in his chest, and was

admitted in the Medicity Hospitals. Hundreds of

people gathered outside the Hospital when they came

to know of his illness, but there were no major

incidents in the towns of Andhra Pradesh. At about

10 am that day, the Governor visited NTR in the

Hospital – and took the letter of resignation from

him. The Chandrababu camp also looked at NTR’s

illness as a dubious one, aimed at inciting NTR’s

numerous followers to create law and order problems

on the streets. That evening, NTR got himself

discharged and went home.

On September 1, Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in

as the new Chief Minister at a lack lustre function

because it was held under NTR’s huge shadow. He

took NTR’s son Harikrishna into his Cabinet but left

Dr D.Venkateswara Rao, his co-son-in-law and MP,

out. Chandrababu criticised the “low pace of

development” witnessed in eight months NTR was

Chief Minister, but said he would persue three

374

schemes that NTR initiated : Of supplying rice at Rs

2 a kilo, introducing total prohibition in the State and

supplying power at a flat rate of Rs 50 per horse

power. Chandrababu abandoned all three schemes

within the next two years.

Chandrababu went to NTR’s house straight from the

Raj Bhavan, along with his wife, Bhuvaneswari

(NTR’s daughter) and Harikrishna, NTR’s son.

NTR did not receive them, while a group of NTR

supporters shouted slogans against Chandrababu.

The Raj Bhavan road was cordoned off for two

kilometres either way, and invitees were checked for

passes at five points before they were allowed inside.

At the ceremony, Dr Venkateswara Rao looked tense

and absent minded, as he was hoping to be inducted

as the Deputy Chief Minister, but the inclusion of

Harikrishna virtually ruled him out.

Chandrababu won his vote of confidence in the

Assembly on September 7, with 227 voting for him,

with 28 MLAs supporting NTR suspended from the

House for unruly behaviour, and 31 remaining

375


neutral. Chandrababu got the support of 183 Telugu

Desam MLAs, five Independent MLAs, 34 MLAs

belonging to CPI and CPI (M), and four MLAs

belonging to Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen. In the

Assembly, NTR made a vain bid to make a

statement on his resignation, but the Speaker,

Y.Ramakrishnudu, told him that the first item on the

agenda was the vote of confidence, and after that, he

would permit NTR to speak. NTR said that he was

still the Leader of Telugu Desam Party, and had a

right to explain why he was sitting in the Opposition.

The Speaker said that the issue before the House was

not who was Leader of TDP, but the vote of

confidence.

The MLAs supporting NTR went to the Speaker’s

podium and picked up an argument with him for two

hours, when an MLA wrenched a mike and threw it

at the Speaker. The other Opposition MLAs

demanded that the MLAs should apologise for their

behaviour, and NTR apologised on their behalf,

saying that they were provoked because the Speaker

376

made an objectionable remark aganst NTR. The

Speaker denied having made the remark, “but if they

heard me so, then I will withdraw the remark”.

After that NTR again stood up to make a statement,

but none in the House, either the CPI, CPI (M), BJP,

Majlis or Independents stood up to ask that NTR be

permitted to speak. Surely, NTR had the right to

make a statement in the Assembly, because

momentous changes had taken place between two

sessions, he was sitting in the Opposition benches,

while someone else was sitting in the chair allotted to

the Leader of the House. Even a Minister who

resigns makes a routine statement in the House. The

Rules of Procedure are there for record, and people

speak out of turn on a regular basis in the Assembly.

But in respect of NTR, even the courtesy due to a

man who won a landslide victory in the elections was

not shown to him.

Then, the Speaker ordered suspension of the MLAs

loyal to NTR, including NTR, and NTR left the

Assembly, never to enter the House again.

377


Though NTR’s chapter as Chief Minister of Andhra

Pradesh ended, he kept up a barrage of legal issues

trying to focus public attention on the subterfuge and

political backstabbing that marked the change of

power in the State. He sent K.P.Krishna Shetty to

Bombay to persuade Nani A.Palkhivala to appear for

him in a case challenging Governor’s action in

disregarding his advice for dissolution of the

Assembly. Palkivala gave his opinion that “though it

was the prerogative of the Governor to ask anybody

to form a Government, it was totally wrong to ask

Chandrababu Naidu to form the new Government

under the guise of forming a Government of the

Telugu Desam Party, as Naidu was legally expelled

from the Party” Palkhivala however said he could

not come to Hyderabad because he had a number of

commitments in Bombay on the day NTR’s case

would come up for hearing in Hyderabad. Palkhivala

wrote: “Please take great care of your health, because

you have the potential to be a central leader of India”

In an article titled “Farce and Fraud in AP”,

378

published in THE HINDU on September 6, 1995,

Subash C.Kashyap, a former Secretary General of

Lok Sabha, said that the Governor ought to have

advised Chandrababu Naidu to defeat NTR’s

Government on the floor of the Assembly, when it

convened next in its normal course, because the

Governor is not “expected to monitor or verify the

continuance of majority support constantly on a day

to day basis”. The former Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court, E.S.Venkatramiah, said that NTR’s

Telugu Desam continued to be the officially

recognised Telugu Desam, even if NTR had the

support of 20 MLAs, and Chandrababu Naidu’s

Telugu Desam should have been given a different

name even if it had the support of 180 MLAs, under

the provisions of Anti-Defection Law, because it was

MLAs belonging to Chandrababu who left the party

and formed a new group. NTR’s party was the

legally valid political institution, and its legitimacy

did not depend on the majority of MLAs remaining

with it.

379


NTR however lost his cases in Courts, and he had

only one chance to prove that “there is only one

Telugu Desam, and only one leader” and that was

when the next general election to Parliament would

take place in May, 1996. NTR’s following was such

that the followers did not come to the streets to his

rescue whenever he was in trouble, but they would

quietly tell the world that NTR was the man in whom

they place their trust when the chance came to them

in a general election, as they did in 1985 and in 1994.

So, NTR planned a series of public meetings, starting

with the one in Vijayawada on February 2, 1996, but

he did not live to participate in it.

A week before his death, NTR said, in an interview

to THE HINDU, that he will ask the voters in the

Lok Sabha elections whether they voted for him or for

Chandrababu Naidu in the 1994 Assembly elections,

and whether they approved the way in which

Chandrababu “usurped the mandate the people gave

to NTR”. “I am putting all the energy that I have left

in me to make the next election campaign a decisive

380

one. After the Vijayawada simha garjana rally on

February 2, I will hold similar rallies in Warangal

and Tirupati, and undertake an intense tour of all

the districts”, he had said.

On January 8, 1996, NTR spoke to V.P.Singh on the

telephone, and requested him to address the

Vijayawada rally. He also contacted Deve Gowda,

then Karnataka Chief Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav,

then Bihar Chief Minister, Surjit Singh Barnala and

Prafulla Kumar Mohanta also to come to

Vijayawada. He said that the National Front

presidium would meet at 10 am in Vijayawada that

day. “I am looking forward to this rally and public

meeting since I want to explain to the people the

deception that my own kith and kin planned against

me, and I will seek a verdict from the people’s court

about the back-stabbing”, he had said. He was

happy that Lakshmi Parvathi earlier in the week went

to Delhi and participated in a seminar on democracy

in Myanamar, and in support of Aung San Suu Kyi.

NTR hoped to win 38 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats

381


from Andhra Pradesh in the 1996 elections, and he

would probably have won them.

Meanwhile, the Assembly suspended 28 MLAs loyal

to NTR, and referred to the Committee on Priveleges

their criticism of the Speaker’s behaviour as being

partisan. The MLAs wanted to know who paid for

the special flight of VIF airways by which the Speaker

and two others travelled from Rajahmundry to

Hyderabad on August 25 to verify the signatures of

MLAs supporting Chandrababu. The Speaker said

he was in Tuni on that day, and he was proceeding to

Visakhapatnam to take a regular flight, but at

Rajahmundry, Police informed him that a special

flight was ready to go to Hyderabad and therefore he

took it. The MLAs said Government could not have

paid for the flight, because then NTR ought to have

cleared it as he was Chief Minister on that day. The

Speaker issued a ruling saying that in future “no

Member should venture to raise any matter

whatsoever relating to the office of the Speaker, on

the floor of the House or outside, because criticism

382

against any person occupying the Chair is

reprehensible, and it is unheard of in the annals of

history of Legislatures”.

The High Court finally dismissed the writ petitions

challenging the Governor’s and the Speaker’s actions

during the crisis. The Court said that the Governor

did not go beyond Constitutional conventions in

disregarding NTR’s advice to dissolve the Assembly,

and since Chandrababu had the support of majority

of Members, “whether he belongs to Telugu Desam

or not, the Governor has not committed anything

wrong in the eye of law, in appointing him as Chief

Minister” The High Court however said that the

Speaker “acted outside his jurisdiction” when he

issued a bulletin informing Members that

Chandrababu was elected Leader of Telugu Desam

Legislature Party”. The Election Commission had to

decide which is the real Telugu Desam, the Court

said. Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP welcomed the

judgment as upholding democracy while NTR called

for the resignation of Chandrababu and the Speaker,

383


considering the “strictures” against the Speaker, but

this was ignored.

NTR went to Delhi and met the President, Dr

Shankar Dayal Sharma, complaining against the role

the Governor played during the crisis. In Hyderabad,

after Chandrababu expanded his Cabinet, Dr

Venkateswara Rao walked away from

Chandrababu’s camp to NTR’s camp with 18 MLAs,

because he was not included in the Ministry. This

was considered a farce, and did not create any

impact. Had Dr Venkateswara Rao stayed with NTR

during the crisis from August 24, it might have been a

different thing, but his return after proposing

Chandrababu’s name for Leader of Telugu Desam

Legislature Party, attending Chandrababu’s swearing

in ceremony, and waiting for the first Cabinet

expansion, did not amount to much.

NTR was upset at a Court decision that came on

January 17, 1996. The Telugu Desam Party had Rs

75 lakhs in its account, and NTR tried to withdraw

the amount, but Chandrababu Naidu approached the

384

High Court demanding that the money should be

frozen till it was legally established that he,

Chandrababu, headed the Telugu Desam Party and

he alone can operate the account. That day,

B.V.Mohan Reddy, an MLA from Kurnool district,

came to see NTR and they had dinner together. On

Television, there was a programme on L.V.Prasad,

the film producer of the 1940s who gave such a big

lift to NTR. While the programme was on, NTR

talked to Akkineni Nageswara Rao, another top star,

to recall their early film careers. Mohan Reddy left at

9.30 pm and NTR retired to bed.

What happened during NTR’s last few hours has

become a matter of conjecture. Lakshmi Parvathi

said later that he went to sleep, she heard him wake

up as usual at 4 am, have a shave, do some exercise,

but abruptly return to bed where he died. But the

general belief is that NTR died at 2 am, that she was

afraid of facing Chandrababu and NTR’s family

who had been so antagonistic to her, and some of her

confidents carried away suit cases with cash and

385


jewellery in it, before she informed

Dr Mahalakshmama, a gynaecologist who

performed the recanalisation operation on her, and

who was distantly related to K.Vijayabhaskara

Reddy, a former Chief Minister. Dr

Mahalakshmamma advised her to seek

Vijayabhaskara Reddy’s advise. Vijayabhaskara

Reddy advised her to inform NTR’s family first about

the death, and this death was revealed only after

4 am.

Harikrishna, Transport Minister in Chandrababu’s

Cabinet, was in Hongkong when NTR died, but he

issued a statement demanding a judicial enquiry into

the death. Harikrishna alleged that NTR was

subjected to mental torture by Lakshmi Parvathi,

demanding that he adopt her son by her first

marriage, that NTR resisted the attempt, and a

quarrel ensued. Harikrishna also questioned

Lakshmi Parvathi ‘s decision to telephone a

gynaecologist rather than a cardiologist for help.

According to Harikrishna, NTR died at 11 pm, but

386

the announcement was delayed because she

telephoned “her own people to shift suitcases”. He

also alleged that NTR’s youngest son, Jaishankar

Krishna, who was sleeping in the same house, was

not woken up till NTR’s death became public

knowledge.

Even before dawn, hundreds of people assembled

outside NTR’s house, grieving for the leader who

died in anguish. Lakshmi Parvathi wanted the body

kept in her house only, but leaders pointed out that

Road No 13 Banjara Hills was a narrow lane, and

the huge crowds cannot be expected to be sqeezed

into the lane to pay their last respects. And also, the

house was a small house, and the body cannot be

displayed for people to see from a distance. Finally,

NTR’s body was shifted to Lal Bahadur Stadium

where a huge dias was erected over which the body

was kept. Barricades were erected and people stood

in big queues to have a last glimpse of their leader.

As the day progressed, the MLAs loyal to Lakshmi

Parvathi occupied the dias and led in the mourning,

387


but in the evening, NTR’s sons and daughters

managed to sit on the dias. Lakshmi Parvathi sat on

a chair next to the body, and was the first person to

be consoled by leaders, but when she went to a toilet,

the chair was removed. This led to a quarrel and the

brothers Harikrishna and Balakrishna manhandled

G.Mudukrishnama Naidu, MLA, a Lakshmi

Parvathi loyalist, and tore his shirt. This was shown

on a Television network. Police intervened and

restored Lakshmi Parvathi’s chair, while Harikrishna

had another chair brought for him to sit.

NTR was finally cremated near Hussainsagar lake

adjacent to the State Secretariat. The road was

named “NTR Marg”, and the adjacent area

developed into an “NTR Gardens” which have

become tourist attractions , with hundreds of

families visiting the place daily. It was NTR’s idea

to have a big, monolith statue of Budha installed in

the middle of the lake and develop the area as a

“Budha Purnima” project and this was done. A road

was laid around the lake, called Necklace Road, and

388

a “peoples plaza” came up at the Necklace Road,

where music and dance performances are held.

NTR changed the course of history of Andhra

Pradesh. He is remembered today with affection, as

the man who gave a sense of identity to Telugu

speaking people.

389


Had he not married NTR’s daughter, Chandrababu

Naidu would have had a zero chance of becoming

Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister. He used this

relationship to his political advantage. A series of

unexpected events, some meticulous planning, a

curiosity about new ideas that were successfully

tested elsewhere, plus some luck, pushed him to the

top of the political rung.

Chandrababu was a Congress (I) MLA between 1978

and 1983, and was a Minister for three years in the

Cabinets of T.Anjiah, Bhavanam Venkatram Reddy

and Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy. He learnt the art

of manoeuvre from his Congress (I) days. For 11

years, Chandrababu worked with NTR, first as a

confident, then as General Secretary of Telugu

Desam, and then as a Telugu Desam MLA from

1989-94 while NTR was Leader of Opposition. He

learnt the importance of self-discipline from NTR.

Between 1989-94, he started two ventures, the

Bhuvaneswari Carbides and Visnupriya Hotels, which

he sold later, and finally he set up the Heritage

Chandrababu

390

Foods, a milk dairy, in which he partnered some

businessmen from whom he learnt the techniques of

corporate management and culture. These three

aspects stood him in good stood in the next phase of

his career as Chief Minister from 1995 onwards.

Chandrababu came from a middle class background.

Both his parents, Karjura Naidu and Ammenamma,

were illiterate. They had a farm of 24 acres in

Naravaripalle in Chittor district, a hamlet of

Seshapuram village, and the father sold part of this

land to educate his two sons, Chandrababu and

Ramamurthy Naidu. Ramamurthy became a Telugu

Desam MLA for one term. Chandrababu has two

sisters, who are married and settled down as

housewives.

Chandrababu went to school at Seshapuram, and to

the Sri Venkateswara Arts College at Tirupati for his

M.A. in Economics. Later, he enrolled himself for an

M.Phil degree of Sri Venkateswara University, taking

as his theme the ideas of N.G.Ranga on rural

development. Ranga was a leader from the days of

391


the freedom struggle, who conducted political classes

for young volunteers, which helped him to have a big

following among the Congress workers of the 1940s

and 1950s. He espoused the cause of farmers, and

promoted the concept of village self-reliance and

gram swaraj.

Chandrababu however did not complete his M.Phil

course. In 1978, with the help of a senior Congress

leader of the district, P.Rajagopal Naidu,

Chandrababu got a Congress (I) ticket to contest to

the Assembly from Chandragiri constitutency. Those

days, Jalagam Vengal Rao was completing his four

year term as Chief Minister, and Indira Gandhi, who

lost power in the 1977 general elections at the end of

the emergency, had split the Congress again, and the

Congress (I) was born on December 31, 1977.

Congressmen were confused as to their future. The

Congress in Andhra Pradesh divided into three

groups, one group consisting of Pidathala Ranga

Reddy and J.Chokka Rao joining the Janata Party

which was then in power at the Centre, while another

headed by Gaddam Rajaram opted to go with the

392

newly formed Congress (I) headed by Indira Gandhi,

for which group Dr Marri Channa Reddy had

already become President of Andhra Pradesh

Congress (I) Committee. Vengal Rao remained with

Congress (R), the prefix referring to Brahmananda

Reddy who was All India Congress President. There

was not much demand for the Congress (I) tickets,

but there was an Indira Gandhi wave in Andhra

Pradesh, and it rode to power with a comfortable

tally of 175 seats in a house of 294. Dr Channa

Reddy was the natural choice for Chief Minister. The

factional equations were such, and power was such a

magnet, that 45 out of 60 elected on Janata ticket ,

and all 30 elected on Congress (R), joined Dr Channa

Reddy’s bandwagon within six months. In the wave,

Chandrababu easily won the seat to Assembly.

Chandrababu spent his first two years as an MLA,

trying to find out the nuances of the group politics.

He was a teatoller, soft spoken and had sufficient

humility to respect elders. Though Dr Marri Channa

Reddy was a strong Chief Minister, factional politics

393


soon overtook him, and he had to go in September,

1980, a bitter man. T.Anjiah replaced him, forming a

jumbo “airbus” Cabinet of 63. Chandrababu got in,

as Minister for Cinematography, and he met film

stars including NTR to discuss steps to have the

Telugu film industry, based in Madras, shift to

Hyderabad.

NTR took a fancy for Chandrababu because he

came to know about his personal habits. NTR was a

tall figure in the Kamma community while

Chandrababu was virtually at the bottom in terms of

his wealth and social status, but NTR’s brother,

Trivikrama Rao, met Chandrababu and proposed

that he marry Bhuvaneswari, NTR’s daughter.

Trivikrama Rao accompanied Chandrababu to

NTR’s house when Chandrababu saw his future wife

and NTR had a talk. Subsequently, Trivikrama Rao

went to Tirupati and met Chandrababu’s parents

and took their consent for marriage.

Chandrabu’s marriage to NTR’s daughter took place

while he was Minister in Anjiah’s cabinet in 1981..

394

NTR was still a film star, and his future intention to

enter politics was not yet public knowledge.

Chandrababu looked at the marriage as a good

alliance into a rich family. When NTR did

announce his intention to enter politics in 1982, as a

Congress Minister, Chandrababu did not envisage a

big future for NTR, and asserted at a press

conference, that he would contest against NTR if the

Congress asked him to do so. Chandrababu had

made a big mistake in his assessment, and in the 1983

elections, he was defeated by a Telugu Desam

candidate at Chandragiri and NTR rode to power.

Chandrababu cooled his heels for the next six

months, because the other NTR’s son-in-law, Dr

Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, had already

established himself in NTR’s camp, having

campaigned with him from April, 1982 and was

head of the Publicity wing of the Party.

Chandrababu however gained access to NTR’s inner

circle by the end of 1983, and became a close

confident. Chandrababu also played a crucial role in

395


the August, 1984 crisis when NTR’s Government was

dismissed, and with the help of the entire Opposition

in the Country and a massive public movement,

NTR regained power a month later. Chandrababu

was made Chairman of Karshaka Parishat, a newly

set up farmers’ federation, but this led to a public

uproar, and the Courts struck down the GO and the

Karshak Parishat became a non-starter. In the 1989

elections, Chandrababu won his seat in the Assembly

from Kuppam constituency, but NTR lost power, and

Chandrababu again played a big role in the

Opposition. Congress Chief Ministers tried to

cultivate Chandrababu because NTR was not

accessible to them, but Chandrababu played his cards

well, without projecting his image, to the detriment

of his equation with NTR. Chandrababu was

virtual Leader of Opposition in 1993 and 1994, when

NTR vowed never to enter the Assembly again -

except as Chief Minister - when he was suspended

from the Assembly along with other TDP MLAs for

“creating disturbance in the House” while NTR was

simply sitting without uttering a word.

396

The entry of Lakshmi Parvathi into NTR’s life was a

big turning point for Chandrababu Naidu, who was

slowly being sidelined and ignored in the new set up

that came to power after the December, 1994

elections. Now Chandrababu was Minister for

Finance and Revenue. He used the techniques of

manoeuvre to spread his influence among Telugu

Desam MLAs, won the support of the allies of

Telugu Desam such as the Left parties, and struck at

NTR when the latter was least expecting such a blow.

In his heart of hearts, Chandrababu was unhappy

that he had to come to power by alienating NTR and

incurring his wrath, but he justified this as necessary.

Chandrababu was convinced that under Lakshmi

Parvathi’s influence, NTR would soon dissipate his

goodwill and end as a failure in his second term as

Chief Minister.

When he became Chief Minister on Sept 1, 1995,

Chandrababu Naidu announced that he would

continue the three programmes that NTR initiated

after the 1994 general elections – of supplying rice at

397


Rs 2 per kg, (a promise that NTR actually made in

1982 , at the time of founding Telugu Desam, and

implemented by him from 1983 to 1989), of

introducing total prohibition in the State, and

charging farmers with tubewell irrigation at a flat

rate of Rs 50 per HP per year. But Chandrababu

abandoned all the three schemes within the next two

years.

NTR intended the rice subsidy to reach only families

below the poverty line, defined in 1983 as those with

an annual income of less than Rs 4,800 a year. These

families constituted around 30 per cent of the

population in 1976 and had reduced to 16 per cent in

1991, estimated through national sample surveys, but

about 70 per cent of the population was taking rice

at Rs 2 per kilo, at the rate of five kilos per head per

family. The annual outgo was 22 lakh tonnes, for a

total of about 100 lakh families, out of the 136 lakh

families in the State. Also, two rupees of 1983 came

to Rs 6 in 1994 after adjusting against inflation,

because a dollar was worth Rs 10.31 in 1983 and

398

Rs 31.36 in 1994. Targetting the subsidies to those

people below poverty line, for whom the Government

intended the scheme, became a major political

problem, and there was very big political opposition

to any move to withdraw these cards from the

beneficiaries. The Congress Chief Minister, Dr

M.Channa Redd, had a random survey done in some

villages of East Godavari district, and he was

surprised to find that a man who owned a cinema

theatre, and another who owned a petrol bunk, also

possessed white cards, enabling them to buy rice at

Rs 2 per kilo. There was a demand for white cards

because treatment at Government-run super

speciality hospitals, such as the Nizam’s Institute of

Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, was free to white

card holders. The rumour that Channa Reddy

planned to cancel these white cards cost the Congress

(I) dearly in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, because it

could win only three seats out of the 18 that went to

poll in the first phase of polling. Rajiv Gandhi’s

assassination saved the party, because it won 18 out

of 24 seats in the next phase, after the assassination.

399


NTR gave the slogan for total prohibition because

of a unique incident in Nellore village in 1993. Real

wages of labourers in villages were going down , and

for a “kick” they had to spend more on arrack. In

one village, the arrack seller used more chloral

hydrate to give more “kick”, resulting in one labourer

walking into a pond and drowning in it. An adult

literacy programme was on in that district, and

women had a lesson about what women did when

menfolk took to drink and neglected their families –

forcibly closing down the arrack shop! Inspired by

that lesson, and prompted by social activists, the

women did just that in Nellore village. This received

wide publicity in the press, and everyone appreciated

the women’s action, and it snowballed into a

movement for total prohibition. K.Vijyabhaskara

Reddy, who was Chief Minister at that time, banned

sale of arrack, and NTR said he would introduce

total prohibition the moment he was sworn in as

Chief Minister. He kept this promise, signing the file

before a big gathering in Lal Bahadur Stadium, after

he was sworn in as Chief Minister at 12.02 pm on

400

December 12, 1994. NTR banned sale of Indian

Made Foreign Liquor, closed bars, and issued a

system of permits for those above 60 wanting liquor

on health grounds. To show he was more committed,

Chandrababu in 1996 cancelled these health permits

as well.

Giving power at Rs 50 per HP was the least

controversial those days. In the 1980s there was a

countrywide farmers movement, headed by

Narayanaswamy Naidu in Coimbatore, Mahendra

Thikait in Uttar Pradesh and Sharad Joshi in

Maharashtra, when the metres attached to pumpsets

were removed all over the Country. Since then, power

was given free to farmers in States where agricultural

pumpsets were minimum, while in States like Andhra

Pradesh a flat rate was charged. Andhra Pradesh

had about 18 lakh pumpsets, and the Government

always estimated that these farmers used 40 per cent

of power generated, which is a clever manipulation

because the “unmetered” power consisted of

agricultural power and power loss due to theft and

distribution problems, and it suited the Government,

401


to underestimate theft and loss, and overestimate

agricultural consumption.

Chandrababu spent his first year in office in trying to

consolidate his position, and he obtained legitimacy

only after winning 16 seats in the Lok Sabha in the

1996 elections, and helping CPI and CPI (M) to win

three more seats, out of 42 in the State. The TDP and

its allies polled 37.89 per cent popular vote. Lakshmi

Parvathi, who contested on the plank of being the

sole heir to NTR legacy, drew a blank, though she

polled 10.66 per cent of the popular vote. The split in

Telugu Desam vote benefitted the Congress (I), which

won 22 seats with 39.66 per cent of vote.

Around this time, Chandrababu started to take

seriously the visit of teams from the World Bank that

came to scrutinise the welfare programmes in Andhra

Pradesh, as part of a move to give a massive loan for

“structural adjustment”. Chandrababu listened to

even minor officials who came with new ideas, told

him about the trends in the world economy, and

explained the reason why Singapore, South Korea,

402

Malaysia, Hong Kong, and China were able to make

such rapid strides compared to India. Chandrababu

started to realise that his understanding of

administration was faulty, and that he had to change

his “mindset” to usher in progress.

The World Bank teams studied the Andhra Pradesh

economy, and showed that the annual rate of growth

of the Gross State Domestic Product was 4.6 per cent

for 1980-95, much less than the Country’s average of

5.2 per cent. Andhra Pradesh’s per capita income

was 70 per cent of the six fastest growing States in

the Country in 1980, but this fell to 50 per cent in

1994. AP’s GDP was Rs 8,190 crores in 1980 and

increased to Rs 14,950 crores in 1994 at constant

prices, while per capita income increased from Rs

1,543 to Rs 2,111. The State’s debt was 27 per cent of

GDP, while revenue was 15 per cent and expenditure

16 per cent. Wages of about 12 lakhs Government

employees constituted 7.2 per cent of GSDP, and

salary bill grew at 5.6 per cent in a year in real terms

for 10 years, due to a 4.1 per cent annual increase in

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employment and 1.5 per cent increase in real wages.

The subsidies given for the Rs 2 per kg rice scheme

and total prohibition came to 3 per cent of GSDP,

while subsidies given to Irrigation and power sector

came to 2.8 per cent, and the 39 State Public Sector

Undertakings received a subsidy of 1 per cent .

Andhra Pradesh has a rural economy completely

dependent on monsoon. Rice production declined

from 129 lakh tonnes in 1988 to 118 lakh tonnes in

1995, mainly due to bad monsoons which resulted in

fall in cropped area. But, yields remained stagnant

across 20 years, while in some crops they declined.

AP had a net irrigated area of 3.9 million hectares in

1993, compared to 4.3 million in 1989 (a good

monsoon year) and 3.5 million in 1980. Total

cropped area was stagnant, at 12.7 million hectares

in 1993 compared to 12.3 in 1980 and 13.3 in 1989.

Fertiliser use however increased from 0.6 million

tonnes in 1980 to 1.6 mt in 1989 and 1.5 mt in 1993.

In such a scenario how will one go about developing

the State? In 1996, Government needed Rs 45,000

404

crores to complete irrigation projects on hand, such

as the Telugu Ganga project and the Lift irrigation

for Godavari at Devadula. Government would

require Rs 3,000 crores to replace transformers and

distribution lines to give quality power. Subsidies

intended for the poor, such as for the rice scheme,

were going into the pockets of the middle classes.

School enrolments were falling because there were not

adequate teachers in primary schools and child

labour was rampant. Doctors were refusing to go to

villages to work in primary health centres with the

result diarrhoea, malaria, tuberculosis, became

major illnesses in the State. Chandrababu was

seeking a loan of Rs 7,200 crores from the World

Bank for the State’s “structural adjustment” and

another Rs 3,600 crores for reforms in the power

sector, and Chandrababu saw in the World Bank a

much needed fund provider. In Chandrababu’s view,

a lender will lay certain conditions and what is

wrong in following the conditions if these conditions

were good for the State? He felt that one can accept

good advice wherever it came from.

405


Chandrababu accepted the advise of the World Bank

teams and decided to reduce subsidies and make

power tariffs sustainable, but to provide a political

“cushion” to these reforms, he released status papers

on the State’s financial position, and organised

seminars at Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam,

Vijayawada, among other towns. This strategy also

came from the World Bank. In these seminars,

academics, lawyers, doctors and those in the Non

Governmental Organization sector discussed steps to

accelerate development in the State. A point of view

was thus encouraged to develop in the middle classes

that there is need for reform if the State had to

develop.

In 1996, Chandrababu revised power tariffs by 19 to

56 per cent for different categories of consumers,

reducing the loss of Andhra Pradesh State Electricity

Board by Rs 900 crores or 1.4 per cent of GDP. In

July 1996, he increased the subsidised rice price from

Rs 2 to Rs 3.50 per kg, reduced the allotment to four

kgs per individual per month, from 5 kgs before,

406

reducing subsidy by 0.7 per cent of GDP. On 18 April

1997, Chandrababu removed total prohibition, thus

earning Rs 887 crores of excise income, up from zero

the previous year. He increased the “water rate” for

farmers under delta irrigation to one bag of 75 kgs

of paddy, worth about Rs 400, per acre, from a flat

rate of Rs 50 before. He tightened receipts from

existing departments, through a process of frequent

monitoring. In 1997-98, sales tax revenue went up by

34 per cent to Rs 4,728 crores, while Motor Vehicles

Tax went up by 16 per cent to Rs 636 crores. Income

from mines went up by 37 per cent to Rs 449 crores,

while income from Interest earned went up by 10 per

cent to Rs 903 crores.

Public protests began to develop at the Andhra

Pradesh Government sucumbing to the pressures of

the World Bank. The State budget for 1997 was first

scrutinised by World Bank teams before it was

presented to the Assembly, a fact acknowledged by

P.Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the Finance Minister, in his

budget speech. The CPI (M) called Chandrababu a

407


“daily wage labourer of World Bank”. And in

October, 1997, Edwin Lim, the Country Director of

World Bank, and his team interacted with academics

in Hyderabad, and asserted, without batting an

eyelid, that the reforms were initiated by the State

Government on its own, and that the World Bank had

nothing to do with it. Lim disowned the document

published by the World Bank titled: “Andhra

Pradesh:Agenda for Economic Reforms”, which was

sold at an adjacent counter for Rs 50 per copy. The

World Bank wanted to distance itself from the reform

agenda of the State Government in view of the

protests, and the economists did it rather crudely.

The World Bank economists never met the press

before, nor since, and the assertion was necessary to

set the record straight, in tune with the declared

policy of the Bank not to get involved in political

controversies in Countries receiving its aid. If one

were to believe Lim, the State Government was

convinced of the need for reforms on its own, and by

some coincidence, these were exactly the reforms the

408

World Bank wanted, and codified in its Agenda. Lim

asserted that the World Bank did not impose any

conditions, and that the Agenda was prepared by the

Bank staff for its own understanding. Chandrababu

Naidu also went with this view. He denied that there

was any pressure from the World Bank to persue the

reform agenda, and that whatever the Government

initiated was its own agenda. When the Opposition

parties demanded that the World Bank report be

placed on the table of the Assembly, the Chief

Minister asked how could Government place a World

Bank report. He said Government can place only its

own reports in the assembly. After this controversy,

the World Bank reports concerning Andhra Pradesh

were kept for reference at the British Library in

Hyderabad.

The Appraisal report of the World Bank in 1999

reviewed the progress of the economic restructuring

project of Andhra Pradesh, and noted that there was

strong opposition to politically sensitive aspects of

the reforms, such as effective targetting of rice

409


subsidy, staff rationalisation, privatisation, closure of

unviable public enterprises and more effective

collection of user charges. “Since State elections are

due in November 1999, such changes would act as a

focal point for the Opposition. The design for the

project has been carefully tailored to deal with

political realities and a wide scope would exist for

restructuring the project or even discontinuing it in

the event of negative political developments”, so

wrote Edwin Lim.

The World Bank economists entertained the idea

that Chandrababu might lose in the 1999 general

elections, but he came back to power with a big

majority, and the fact that Chandrababu won in a

popular election after taking hard, unpopular

decisions attracted the notice of the World’s press.

The “NEWSWEEK” magazine in its special issue

dated July 2000 said: “This politician is a peaceful

revolutionary. Naidu’s message: No more freebies.

Plug in your computers and get to work”. In an

article titled: “India’s Virtual Visionary”, the

410

Financial Times, London, said in January 31, 2000,

that “honesty and zeal for e-governance has swept

Chandrababu Naidu to the forefront of politics”

Even before elections, Chandrababu’s commitment to

digital revolution was commented upon by the

ECONOMIST magazine, in its survey on India and

Pakistan in May 1999. It said: “Chandrababu

Naidu is making a point which India desperately

needs to take note of: that there is no conflict between

efficiency and social justice, and that enterprise need

not be the enemy of equality. The sort of revolution

Mr Naidu is aiming for in Andhra Pradesh -

managerial, not an ideological one, is exactly what

India needs”. BUSINESSWEEK named

Chandrababu a “Star of Asia” in June 1999. TIME

said that “Beating Bangalore, and the rest of India, a

plugged-in chief minister’s reforms are remaking

Andhra Pradesh”.

Though the press in Andhra Pradesh was hostile to

Chandrababu, the World’s press praised him for

being a different kind of a politician who looked

411


ahead towards better governance. Chandrababu no

doubt basked in this glory, but he was looking for

new ideas to transform Hyderabad into a

“knowledge hub”.

Chandrababu’s nature was to ask anyone who met

him as to what he should do to improve

administrative performance. “My main problem is

how to motivate the Government employees. They

don’t seem to respond to any suggestions I give

them”, he would frequently say. He will never say: “I

am planning to do this… Do you think it would be

good?” He would never reveal what he was thinking

about, but would pool advices from several persons,

who were leaders in their respective fields, and form a

consensus within himself, which he would place

before his core advisors team for possible adverse

reaction from politicians, press and the people. He

would then arrive at a decision.

From his first days in office, Chandrababu planned to

introduce computers in the administration in a big

way, by stages, so that he could get over the problem

412

of paper work, of bribery involved in clerical staff

suppressing files and saying it did not come from the

Minister’s table, of a huge backlog of accumulated

files and so on. The first department to take to

computers was the Commercial Taxes department.

A COMPACT (computer aided administration of

commercial taxes) was in place with 450 computers,

the entire software developed inhouse using Foxpro

on DOS, with 16 out of 36 checkposts in the state

computerised, and the computer having data of

3,07,000 traders paying sales tax in the State. A

trader receives goods through one of the checkposts

on the State’s borders, and a computer adds this

goods to the trader’s stock register. The CT

department collects data on computer from 182

commercial tax offices, and 16 checkposts,

transmitting data monthly to the Deputy

Commissioners of CT. The computerisation helped

detect Rs 22.69 crores of turnover tax evaded and Rs

1.58 crore additional tax was collected. This was a

very marginal improvement but it was good

beginning.

413


Next the offices of the District Registrars and Sub-

Registrars of Registration were computerised, using a

software designed by the National Informatics

Centre. The department used two Pentium-Pro

servers, 3 Pentium clients, a scanner, a laser jet printer

and 3 DMP printers at each location. The

registration of document dealing with sale or

mortgage of property involves payment of stamp

duty, which is proportional to the value of the

property, and the values of all the properties in

various localities of Hyderabad was computerised.

The computerisation helped in a big way, because

earlier, documents had to be copied and held in huge

volumes in record rooms, but the entire information

held in one room was preserved in one CD-ROM. The

Government amended the Indian Stamp Act to

provide legal validity to documents held in CD-ROM

on par with documents held in big volumes in the

past. The two computerised departments became

show pieces and teams of officials from various

States visited these departments in 1997 and 1998 to

see how things were going on.

414

Next, the accounts of the Andhra Pradesh State

Electricity Board, the Municipal Corporation of

Hyderabad, the Hyderabad Metro (water supply and

sewerage board), and several other departments were

computerised, and e-Seva Centres were opened at

about 30 locations in Hyderabad where citizens

could pay their electricitity bills, Municipal taxes,

water charges, telephone bills all at one counter.

These e-Seva centres became popular and about

50,000 transactions were being recorded per day by

August, 2003. By November that year, the e-Seva

services were extended to 130 locations in different

towns in Andhra Pradesh, including Vijayawada,

Guntur, Visakhapatnam etc. Earlier, a man had to

go to one particular Division Office of the APSEB to

pay his power bills, standing in a big queue because

each transaction had to be written down in registers,

receipts prepared and handed over. For telephone

bills, one had to go to selected post offices to make

payments, and so on with each department. The e-

Seva centre completes the transaction in one minute,

and the receipt and original bill are handed over to

415


the citizen. The citizen could pay the bill by cash, or

cheque, or credit card. Waiting time was reduced.

The e-Seva centre became the most visible face of the

computer to the common citizen in Hyderabad.

The Duggirala gram panchayat in Guntur district

became the first village in the State to have its records

computerised, in March 1999. Its Sarpanch,

J.V.Krishna Rao, could give, at the click of the

mouse, birth and death certificates, property tax

details, data of number of households, the ward wise

lists of voters, and the names of ration cardholders.

The computerised system was a gift from Dr Anil

Kumar of Resonance Technologies, Hyderabad, and

his cousins, who all hailed from Duggirala and

wanted to give something in return to their place of

birth. It was built on Visual Basic 5.0 on the front

end and MS- Access at the back end, at a cost of Rs

2 lakhs.

The National Informatics Centre at Hyderabad

created a data base for Andhra Pradesh Government

on the Microsoft Windows NT/SQL server platform

416

to streamline information relating to Janmabhoomi,

crop, treasury, land and rainfall data. A massive data

collection programme incorporating 71 socio-

economic indicators of every habitation in the State

having more than 200 people was prepared. The

volume of data digitised in this programme came to

a staggering 50 gega bytes, and to access the

information, a super computer made by Silicon

Graphics was obtained from the United States.

The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee,

inaugurated the Hyderabad Information Technology

and Engineering Consultancy City (HITEC City) at

Madhapur in November, 1998. This was a circular

building, 10 storeys high, having 5 lakh square feet

plinth area, built at a cost of Rs 85 crores. It has a

2-megabite satellite earth station, uninterrupted

water and power supply, concealed cabling and dust

free environment. There is an international gateway

adjacent to it. Larson & Toubro had built the

HITEC City, with 87 per cent equity, the rest having

been contributed by the Andhra Pradesh Government

417


by way of the cost of land given. L&T offered space

to companies at Rs 2,700 per square feet, compared

to Rs 5,000 offered in Bangalore in a similar venture

also built by L&T, at that time.

The old Collectorate for Ranga Reddy district, built

at Gachibowli and remaining vacant because

employees refused to move to this area from the city

of Hyderabad from where it still functions, was given

to Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT).

Companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, Silicon

Graphics have set up schools, with their own faculties

and they give certificates for six months to one year

course of studies. About 31,000 students appeared

for entrance test for the post graduate courses at the

IIIT in 1999 and of them 500 qualified for admission,

half of them from within Andhra Pradesh.

An Indian School of Business, described as an

“institution that will groom leaders of the new

World”, has come up in 250 acres of land adjacent to

the University of Hyderabad. The ISB has

partnership with J.L.Kellog Graduate School of

418

Management, Northwestern University, and the

Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. It

has a board that includes captains of Indian industry,

such as Anil Ambani, Rahul Bajaj,

Kumaramangalam Birla, Adi Godrej among others.

Since Andhra Pradesh did not have either an Indian

Institute of Management or an Indian Institute of

Technology, the IIIT and ISB were welcome additions

to educational infrastructure in the State. A total of

126 students completed their post graduate

programme at the Indian School of Business in 2002,

and of them 100 students got campus placements on

an average salary of Rs 9 lakhs per year. An ICICI

Knowledge Park was also established on a 200 acre

site at Turkapalli village in which four companies

took modules of 3,000 square feet out of 10 that

came to be established in the next one year in phases.

Medicorp Technologies, Pulsar Electro Optics, Bijam

Bioscience and Med Gene Biotech were the first four

companies that rented these modules. These were so

designed that a group of researchers can stay in the

Knowledge Park for a year or two, conduct the

419


research they wanted to do in world class

environment with all the connectivity and sterile

laboratory atmosphere needed, and when their work

was over, could move back to their parent companies.

The IT sector got a boost only after Chandrababu

Naidu became Chief Minister in 1995. This was

because earlier, accessing Internet was to be via

Bangalore or Bombay, and the telephone call was

charged at STD rates and Internet could not be used

for business purposes. Chandrababu used to point

out that United States issued H1 B visas for

employment to 55,047 Indian professionals in 1999,

compared to 6,665 Chinese, 5,779 from Japan and

3,339 from Philippines. He would present India as the

“fourth largest economy in the world, in terms of

purchasing power parity with a Gross National

Product of two trillion dollars”, that has a 300

million strong middle class. Chandrababu’s Vision

2020 document, prepared by McKinsay, says that

they will set up a “knowledge and learning society

built on the values of hard work, honesty, discipline

and collective sense of purpose”.

420

Chandrababu faced strong criticism from the

Opposition parties for his efforts at getting the IIIT

and ISB. The then Congress (I) Leader of

Opposition, P.Janardhana Reddy demanded in the

assembly that the Government should direct these

two institutions to have reservations for Scheduled

Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes.

Janardhana Reddy made the allegation that

Chandrababu received substantial kickbacks and

commissions. “He is anti-SC, anti-ST, anti-BC and

pro-Tata, pro-Birla, and pro-Ambani”, he accused.

Janardhana Reddy asserted that Congress was for

IT-sector, “which was introduced by Rajiv Gandhi

while he was Prime Minister”.

The Assembly debate on the subject, during February

1999, showed that there was no proper appreciation

for the setting up of a school of international

standards in the IT sector. Chandrababu however

went on the offensive, pointing out that the sons and

daughters of Congress MLAs, Janardhana Reddy,

Gade Venkata Reddy and M.Kothanda Reddy were

421


software professionals in United States. “When we

offer similar facilities to other boys and girls in

Andhra Pradesh, you accuse us of promoting elitism.

When we speak of IT revolution, you say it was Rajiv

Gandhi who ushered it, but when we usher in

computer revolution, you accuse us of helping only

the rich because computers do not help the poor”, he

said. Chandrababu said that earlier Congress

Governments gave land to private schools such as

Nasr and Roots, and asked what reservations were

they enforcing in their schools for Scheduled Castes,

Scheduled Tribes and Backward classes. There were

none.

By 2002, Hyderabad had 1,200 IT software

companies, a total of 53,000 professionals and 4,100

support staff. Exports from the Hyderabad’s

Software Technology Park came to Rs 3,600 crores.

This was not much, considering that the total IT

software exports from the Country that year was Rs

21,000 crores. But Hyderabad was a late starter, it

was on the IT map of the Country, and Andhra

422

Pradesh’s strenth lay in a number of software

professionals working in the United States, who

made big money, and sent back some of it to their

relatives to set up IT companies in the State.

Hyderabad was ranked first by National

Association of Software Companies (NASSCOM) in

terms investment opportunites for the IT Enabled

Services sector.

The IT revolution however touched the middle

classes, while the poor were left out, and those left

out turned against the entire reform process. From

1971 onwards, when Indira Gandhi came up with the

“garibi hatao” (remove poverty) slogan, and won a

parliamentary election, the commitment to remove

poverty has been the major cornerstone of every

political party, and NTR also said: “the society is a

temple, and the poor are my deities”. The Telugu

Desam’s principal objective was to help the poor first

and foremost. “What for is a Government, if it

cannot provide a handful of rice to a hungry

individual?” NTR would dramatically ask, at every

423


public meeting in 1982. It was therefore difficult to

integrate an economic reform agenda with the

commitment to help “the poorest of the poor”,

because this entailed giving subsidies on a large scale,

while the first condition of reform is to make them

“sustainable”, that is, of the beneficiaries paying for

the benefits in a sustained manner. A major problem

in targetting the poor, was the demand for the

inclusion of lower middle classes also in the list of the

poor. The surveys conducted by an anti-poverty

programme called VELUGU (light) with funding

from the British DFID, of the families below poverty

line, was opposed by the Left Parties on the ground

that a majority of poor were left out, and they made

the demand that the white cards (that enabled poor

to buy rice at Rs 6.50 a kilo) should be given to those

families with an annual income of Rs 36,000, thus

increasing the poverty level from Rs 11,000 before.

An administrator cannot enlarge the target group on

political considerations, but the agitations criticised

the Government for limiting the number of poor

families “according to the dictates of World Bank”.

424

In the beginning, Chandrababu allowed the criticism

to snowball, but later corrected himself through a

series of welfare measures.

Chandrababu set up a different agenda for himself as

Chief Minister. Unlike previous Chief Ministers, he

started making “surprise visits” to various parts of

Hyderabad city and to various towns in the districts,

participated in grama sabhas in every district during

the 19 rounds of Janmabhoomi programmes, and

interacted with people at village and town levels. He

introduced a weekly phone-in programme over All

India Radio and Doordarsan, and after 200 episodes

of this programme in July, 2003, he organised a

round table with writers and journalists seeking

advice on how to make the programme more

effective. He innovated in administration, privatising

50 per cent of sanitation work in the Municipal

Corporation of Hyderabad, and a year later, gave the

task to DWCRA self-help mahila groups, so that

they could earn more. The town looked dirty when

the sanitation upkeep was in the hands of full time

425


employees of the MCH, but once it was privatised,

the town looked cleaner and better.

Another innovative idea was the “rythu bazaar” (the

farmers’s market). Officials identified about 30

villages sorrounding Hyderabad where vegetables

were grown, gave identity cards to two members of

the farmers families, and sent a bus at 5 am daily

when the farmer brought his vegetables to the market

and sold it directly to the urban consumer,

eliminating the commission agent. Another bus went

to the village at 2 pm, when the farmer was relieved

by his wife, son or daughter. The wholesale market

rates were displayed on the boards, and the

vegetables were sold visibly cheap, and so there was

no need to bargain. The official’s role was to prevent

traders entering the rythu bazaar in the garb of

farmers. About 100 such bazaars were functioning

all over the State by 2003, and of them, 70 functioned

well.

Chandrababu also initiated a number of welfare

measures to keep his vote bank intact. Before the

426

1999 elections, he gave 10 lakh new connections of

LPG (liquid petroleum gas) to women belonging to

lower income groups, for which Government gave a

subsidy of Rs 500 towards deposit for the gas

cylinder. A number of middle class women also got

their LPG through the scheme. The poor women

found it difficult to continue their LPG connections

because the initial cost of a gas cylinder, of Rs 270

per 14.5 kg cylinder, was beyond their means, and

they had to carry the empty cylinder on a bullock

cart or auto rickshaw to the nearest town for a

replacement. But the LPG was popular because

there was no fuss in lighting the gas stove, as

compared to making fire with firewood or coal, and

smoke was eliminated. As the scheme progressed, it

was found that most of the women from poorer

classes did not get replacements on a regular basis,

and that some of them gave up the connections

altogether. When another 10 lakh LPG connections

was announced for distribution in 2003, there was no

demand!.

427


The anti-Congress stance of N.T.Rama Rao was

inherited by Chandrababu Naidu when the latter

became the Chief Minister in 1995. When NTR was

Chief Minister, antoganistic Congress (I)

Governments were at the Centre, headed by Indira

Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P.V.Narasimha Rao, and

NTR virtually fought a running battle with the

Congress (I), first when they destabilised his

Government in August, 1984, then through a series of

encounters with Union Ministers who tried to insult

and humiliate him, and then through a series of

events such as the case against him in the High Court

on charges of nepotism, casteism etc.

Chandrababu was lucky to have friendly

Governments headed by H.D.Deve Gowda, I.K.Gujral

and Atal Behari Vajpayee at the Centre.

Chandrababu made the best use of this development,

and tried to get maximum aid for the State, such as

having 30 lakh tonnes of rice for the “food for work”

programme when the State was hit with an

unprecedented drought in 2002 out of the 50 lakh

tonnes sanctioned for the whole Country.

Chandrababu’s national politics

428

Self interest marked Chandrababu’s approach to

national politics. He is basically a regional leader,

but he looked at the national politics from his own

perspective of whether it would help him politically,

whether he can get more funds from the Centre for

Andhra Pradesh development, and whether it was

good for his Telugu Desam Party in the long run.

Chandrababu became Convenor of United Front,

which gave two Prime Ministers to the nation, and he

gave crucial outside support to the National

Democratic Alliance Government of Vjpayee. He

was the least troublesome ally of the NDA. Both

Vajpayee and L.K.Advani found it easy to do

business with Chandrababu, because he made no

political demands, and was satisfied with a grant of

relief or sanction of a project.

In 1996, Congress under P.V.Narasimha Rao lost

power, BJP emerged as the single largest Party, and

there was a hung Parliament. The non-Congress and

non-BJP parties formed a United Front and made

Chandrababu the Convenor, because he was young

429


and represented a regional Party and he did not have

any ego problem. The United Front decided that

none of them would support the BJP if it formed the

Government.

Chandrababu went to Delhi in a jubilant mood and

asserted that they would form the Government. As

leader of the largest Party, Atal Behari Vajpayee was

invited to form the Government, and he did so, and

stayed in office for just 13 days, because no one from

the United Front was willing to break ranks to help

him continue in office. Vajpee moved his motion

seeking vote of confidence, announced he would not

continue in office, and went to Rashtrapathi Bhavan

to hand over his resignation letter. Vajpayee won the

support of the middle classes by his gentlemanly

performance, and this helped the BJP in the next Lok

Sabha election in 1998. The Congress, under Sitaram

Kesari, decided to extend outside support to a non-

BJP Government at the Centre, and thus the United

Front got a chance to govern.

Chandrababu played a major role in this exercise.

430

The United Front’s first option was to invite the

Marxist leader, Jyothi Basu, to lead the Front and

become Prime Minister. Basu was willing but the CPI

(M) was not, and the UF leaders, after a great deal of

introspection, suggested that Chandrababu should

become Prime Minister. Chandrababu knew that the

UF’s future was shaky, as it depended on a whimsical

support of Sitaram Kesari, and at best he can be

Prime Minister for a few months without anything to

show by way of achievement, and squandering the

goodwill he earned as a performing Chief Minister.

He politely declined the offer. Then the choice fell on

Deve Gowda, but his term was not very promising,

and he became the caroonist’s delight by frequently

falling asleep on the dias. Chandrababu however

was concentrating on consolidating his position in

the State, and a year later, suddenly, Sitaram Kesari

pulled the rug from under the coalition and Deve

Gowda had to resign.

The talks to find an alternative this time were held in

the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan at Delhi. Various names

431


were considered in consultations that stretched

beyond midnight. I.K.Gujral was there, and he was

asked to sleep in the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan for a

while, and he was woken up early in the morning to

be told he would be the next Prime Minister. Sitaram

Kesari was not a man to be taken for granted, and a

few months later, he struck again, demanding that

DMK Ministers should be dropped from the cabinet,

as they supported the LTTE that killed Rajiv

Gandhi!. Gujral resigned, and the nation went for

another general elections.

In 1998 March elections to Lok Sabha, the Telugu

Desam continued its seat adjustments with CPI, CPI

(M) and Janata Dal, while BJP contested in an

alliance with Lakshmi Parvathi’s Telugu Desam

Party. Since Vajpayee’s speech, when he resigned

after 13 days in office, endeared him to the middle

classes, the BJP-NTR TDP alliance in Andhra

Pradesh polled 20.59 percent vote, with BJP winning

four seats. This was BJP’s best performance in the

State when it contested virtually on its own, since the

432

support from NTR TDP was at best marginal. The

TDP and allies got 38.39 per cent vote and won 15

seats while Congress polled 38.46 per cent votes and

won 22 seats. The Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen

President, Salauddin Owaisi, was winning the

Hyderabad Lok Seat continuously from 1984

elections, with the implicit support of the

Congress (I).

As the results of the 1998 elections were coming,

Harkishen Singh Surjeet, the CPI (M) General

Secretary, told the TV channels that the United Front

would support the Congress (I) to keep the BJP out of

power, and Chandrababu objected to the statement,

saying as Convenor of UF, he was not aware of any

such decision and Surjit ought not to have made such

a statement. Chandrababu took the stand that

Telugu Desam will not support Congress (I) at any

cost. He explained that the Congress (I) destabilised

the United Front Government twice in 18 months, and

forced a general election on the nation, which

resulted in the BJP strengthening further, and the

433


DMK-Tamil Manila Congress alliance weakening in

Tamilnadu. How can the Congress (I) seek Telugu

Desam’s outside support?, he asked.

Then, he took the next step of supporting the BJP

from the outside, by agreeing to sponsor the TDP MP,

G.M.C.Balayogi, for the post of Speaker of Lok

Sabha. The United Front was planning to sponsor

P.A.Sangma, a one time Speaker, for the post again,

and they were unable to get Telugu Desam support.

The TDP decision was announced on the last day for

filing nominations. Decision was actually taken two

days earlier after Chandrababu spoke to L.K.Advani.

Balayogi was the first Scheduled Caste Speaker of

Lok Sabha, but he was on tour in East Godavari

when he was asked to rush to Delhi. As a standby,

K.Yerrun Naidu, another TDP MP, was asked to file

his nomination for the Speaker’s post, and Balayogi

reached the Lok Sabha Secretary’s office with only

three minutes to spare, and filed his nomination

papers. The United Front leaders were angry that

Chandrababu ditched them. Chandrababu resigned

434

from the UF at the very last minute. Though at that

time he talked of a new Front of regional parties,

with the National Conference of Jammu and

Kashmir, and the Assom Gana Parishad, it became

apparent that he found an alliance with BJP was

good. He however made it clear that Vajpayee should

not be committed to the BJP agenda, but should be

bound by the common minimum programme drafted

by the NDA Convenor, George Fernandes.

Chandrababu said that once Vajpayee agreed to

place in cold storage the issues of Ayodhya, the

common civil code, and the special treatment for

Jammu & Kashmir, the three core issues of interest to

BJP, he would not have any objection to supporting a

BJP led Government from outside. Chandrababu

asserted that the nation should cherish its ideals of

secularism and respect for the welfare of minorities,

and if there is any deviation from this principle, the

Telugu Desam would review its support. In 1998,

Chandrababu also spoke strongly against the foreign

born Sonia Gandhi becoming Congress President. He

said that “we are told that the Congress was found by

435


the friends of British in Calcutta. That party, in the

golden jubilee year of our Independence, is all set to

be led by a foreigner. The wheel has come a full

circle. I am simply appealing to the people to be

vigilant”.

After this intervention in Delhi politics in 1998,

Chandrababu has scaled down his role in national

politics, and is focussed on Andhra Pradesh. He has

a working relationship with leaders like Amar Singh,

MP of Samajwadi Party and Sharad Pawar of the

National Congress Party. When M.Karunanidhi was

arrested in Madras in 2000, he personally spoke on

the telephone with T.R.Balu, the DMK Minister in

Union Government, and conveyed his solidarity with

the DMK on the issue. He says he has no ambition to

become Prime Minister. “My goal is to develop

Andhra Pradesh, and make it a swarna (golden)

Andhra Pradesh. There is lot to do for the people of

my State. I am clear that we have abundent human

resource and sufficient talent. We have to move

forward making use of this resource. We should talk

436

about development most of the time, and of politics

only during election time. That way we will be able

to achieve progress”, he says.

Chandrababu’s theme is “development with a human

face”. He supports the “third way” of moving

forward, not capitalism, not communism, but a

middle path that would give priority to the uplift of

the poor while providing good governance.

437


This book speaks of many varied experiences of my

father, R J Rajendra Prasad, when he was a

journalist working with THE HINDU and earlier

with the Indian Express.

He always appreciated merit and commitment in

every single person who came to meet him. We are

confident that the readers will benefit from his

experiences. Feedback to rectify any errors, that

might have crept in inadvertently, is welcome.

Senior Journalist and Editor of Visalaandhra for

almost three decades, Shri Chakravarthula

Raghavachari has contributed the Foreword. Our

family appreciates his gesture and thanks him whole

heartedly.

Our family sincerely places on record its appreciation

to Shri Neelamegham and his entire team at Akshara

Advertising, Hyderabad - Subbu, Kesavan, Yagnesh,

Suresh, Hari, for design and printing of the book.

Senior Journalist and Resident Editor, Visalaandhra

Acknowledgements

438

and Secretary-General, Indian Journalists Union

(IJU), Shri K Sreenivas Reddy, a close friend my

father, has been very supportive in organizing the

Book Release function, and also for tie up with

Visalaandhra Publishing House for distribution.

Sincere thanks to you, sir.

Our family Seshadri (Seshu), Sudha, Nidhi, Renuka,

Soham, Sarada, Venugopal, Varun & Kumar all

contributed in their own way in bringing out this

book. Sincere appreciation and thanks for all your

support.

My seniors at work, Shri Sanjay Ramchandani,

Shri Nandanandan Reddy and Dr TRK Rao helped

me in completion of this project. Thank you, sirs.

Senior film maker Mr. Madhu Mahankali has helped

in making of the audio visual. Your work is

appreciated, sir.

For our online efforts, personal thanks to Mr Aravind

Babu and Shiv Priya, along with Samanvitha, based

439


at Dusseldorf. Hope www.datelineandhra.com

enables many more to access the book online.

Many thanks to Krishna Priya and Advika for

support for this project.

My mother, Smt Jayanthi has been patiently and

smilingly pushing me to complete the work assigned

by my father. She is the main source of strength and

motivation in completing this book.

This book is dedicated to my mother.

R S Prasad

Hyderabad – July, 2010

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