A ghost comes crying for vengeance

Haunted by visions of back-stabbing, NTR died a miserable and lonely man in January 1996. But now, in the midst of the 1998 election fever, ...

Haunted by visions of back-stabbing, NTR died a miserable and lonely man in January 1996. But now, in the midst of the 1998 election fever, his ghost is back, chuckling, dominating the campaign.

Driven to the wall by his followers, dethroned by his son-in-law and outraged at the criticism his second marriage drew, NTR gave it all up in hospital in 1996. There were no friends then, only a rump party headed by his widow-turned-politician Lakshmi Parvathi to talk highly of the man whose dramatic politics sidelined the Congress in Andhra Pradesh.

Curiously, NTR is today drawing kudos from all and sundry in a desperate election campaign peppered with a high level of insecurity in most parties. The Congress is silent on him, gunning instead for Chandrababu Naidu portraying him as a villain who led to NTR8217;s death. The BJP, poll allies of Lakshmi Parvathi, has suddenly found heroic qualities in the man whom it laughed at in the late 8217;80s. Parvathi herself uses him as a cover for the way the BJP humiliated herinto the alliance. One of the sons-in-law, D. Venkateswara Rao, is with NTR8217;s widow in the saffron bandwagon while the other son-in-law blasts them all the way.

But most embarrassed of all is Naidu. As the man who led the coup against NTR and took over as Chief Minister, Naidu had nothing favourable to say about his father-in-law who had crafted his rise in politics. But as a politician trying to stay afloat in the 1998 tidal wave of anger against the TDP, Naidu is actually praising NTR.

In most meetings, Naidu is attracting thin crowds and even there the only applause comes when the Chief Minister speaks of NTR8217;s achievements. Naidu talks glowingly of NTR8217;s prohibition policy and the Rs two-a-kilo rice scheme as 8220;great decisions8221;. No sooner than he utters this, the crowd breaks into much-awaited appreciation. The clever Naidu uses this to say how he was helpless in withdrawing both schemes in the face of opposition in other States!

Naidu8217;s idea is to show how he was isolated in running the populistschemes while fellow Chief Ministers were being more pragmatic. At best, this is a weak attempt to hide behind NTR8217;s legacy at a time when Naidu should be leading the United Front on his own steam in the State. Things get blatant in places like Vijayawada, said to be AP8217;s most politically conscious city. Naidu chose Dasari Jairamesh as the party nominee here against Congressman P. Upendra.

Jairamesh promptly put up posters all over showing NTR hugging him. If this was not enough, the few banners showing the faces of Naidu and Jairamesh alongside have all been paid for by the TDP, not the candidate. Locals here have interesting things to say of Jairamesh. Apparently, he was a Congressman who switched sides when NTR formed the TDP. And when Naidu brought NTR down, Jairamesh was one of the first to ditch NTR. None of that seems important now.

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The new-found proximity between NTR8217;s memory and the BJP is best seen in NTR8217;s native village, Nimmakuru, in Machilipatnam constituency. Many years ago, in a housewhich has now been demolished and a new structure built, NTR was born. Soon he was to begin cycling all the way to Vijayawada for studies, a show of determination which the world would see later. Today, all that is left is the family name 8220;Nandamuri8221; as a mandatory prefix to names of all educational institutions there.

Barely 100 metres away from NTR8217;s ancestral house stand freshly planted BJP flags, a novelty in this part of the world. 8220;The BJP has been working like the Communists used to in the past. Which is why we see their presence here, unheard of earlier,8221; says Nandamuri Chandrashekar, NTR8217;s brother-in-law. It does seem that time has travelled to an extent where the BJP takes leaves out of the Red book and use them effectively. So, this time NTR8217;s village will also see some votes for the saffron brigade. But none of this is rubbing off on the man or his memory.

His widow, in one of her regular somersaults, went meekly back to the BJP after talking big against them in the first place. At theheight of his glory, NTR would probably have ridiculed the right wing in his trademark regal fashion. His sons, who claim to be the true inheritors of his legacy, have made no such attempt. Which leaves the BJP in the relatively happy, and unexpected, position of gleaning away some of the TDP8217;s credit.

All this is a bit unexpected for Naidu. The none-too-happy Chief Minister was recently forced to erect huge cut-outs of NTR in the Anantapur area where NTR once represented Hindupur in the AP Assembly. Next to NTR8217;s figure is a smaller one of Naidu and an even shorter one of the local party nominee. If this wasn8217;t a deadpan effort at stalling the TDP8217;s current nosedive, it would have been hilarious. As things stand, it isn8217;t.

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In one of his hit spoofs, NTR plays the role of a villager killed by the local zamindar. He then meets the Lord of Death and complains of the injustice done to him. In this comic success, NTR gets a chance to look down from above and see exactly how people he knew were reacting tohis death. The laugh-a-minute film has NTR being sent to earth again to avenge the villains and set things right.

In an eerie parallel of sorts, this is being mirrored in the current election. Friends of NTR? Well, some in life, many more in death.