As They See It

TIMENew YorkDressed in a canary-yellow shirt, N. Chandrababu Naidu climbs into a five-seater Bell helicopter and buries himself in a bulk...

TIME
New York

Dressed in a canary-yellow shirt, N. Chandrababu Naidu climbs into a five-seater Bell helicopter and buries himself in a bulky volume emblazoned with a photograph of him astride a bicycle also canary yellow. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, a large but industrially backward state, is not short on self-esteem nor shy about self-promotion. But as the chopper takes off on a two-hour journey across the state, from the capital Hyderabad to the rice-and-tobacco-growing districts along the Bay of Bengal coast, the reform-minded politician is thinking about the 50 million voters who will soon decide his fate. The bicycle is the symbol of his Telugu Desam Party, canary yellow the party colours, and the tome in his hands a computer-generated handbook on the state assembly elections scheduled this month along with the national poll8230;

As the chopper lands outside a small rural town in Prakasam district, Naidu quickly combs his hair and plunges into the hyper-excited crowd. As hedrives to a meeting venue, hundreds run alongside, many stumbling and falling in the melee. 8220;I8217;m running after him,8221; explains Satyam, a breathless farm worker, 8220;because he8217;s a good man.8221; Naidu later tells a rural audience: 8220;I want to change people8217;s minds. I want you to think about development.8221;

The people appear to understand what he is driving at, belying the sceptics8217; view that most voters want extravagant populism, rather than economic common sense, from their leaders. The villagers talk about the need for change 8212; new houses, schools, health centres, drinking-water tanks, an employment scheme for women. Says Abdul Waheed, a tailor: 8220;He has really mesmerised people in the villages by making officials work.8221;

That8217;s the sort of endorsement Naidu craves, in votes as well as words. Although the rival Congress Party is offering farmers the pork-barrel promise of supplying free electricity, election forecasts give the Telugu Desam the edge in the state-assembly race. But reform-minded Indians willhave to wait until early October, when the results are announced, to see if this canary has survived the coalmine.