Naidu8217;s choice

It cannot be said that Chandrababu Naidu's choice has been a non-choice. His talk of the Telugu Desam Party's post-election resolve to remai...

It cannot be said that Chandrababu Naidu8217;s choice has been a non-choice. His talk of the Telugu Desam Party8217;s post-election resolve to remain quot;neutralquot; between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress was a transparent, and so ineffective, political ruse and his quot;equidistancequot; between the two national players for power at the Centre was clearly a euphemism for a new entente with the BJP.

His critics in the United Front could not be faulted on their stand that arithmetic would make a TDP abstention on the confidence motion tantamount to a pro-BJP vote. The regional party has not refrained in the end from casting its lot openly with the ruling combine in the Lok Sabha. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister8217;s choice has not been a clean, unambiguous one, either. The convolutions of his logic and line on the entire issue cannot be easily dismissed as a mere camouflage. The contradictory signals emanating from Hyderabad should, in fact, be cause for serious concern to anyone in a hurry to see added hope forCentral stability in the TDP8217;s parliamentary tactics. The capacity of a pre-poll alliance to create problems for the coalition has found illustration in the pronouncements of AIADMK chief Jayalalitha and Union Law Minister Thambidurai.

A post-poll arrangement can be even more troublesome, especially with a party allowed the privilege to remain so delightfully ambiguous and undecided about its options as Naidu8217;s.

All the more so, where the Centre8217;s political fortunes depend upon factors of State politics. It was by citing the quot;compulsionsquot; of AP politics that Naidu sought to counter the UF criticism of the cooperation he was offering their once common quot;communalquot; adversary. The compulsions would seem to be now coming in the way of an easy acceptance of the invitation for the TDP participation in the BJP-led government. It was then the prospect of an Assembly election with the Congress as the main opponent that prevented any move that might seem a sign of support for that party. Now, it is the fear of losingthe minority vote and the Left backing that has inspired a controlled revival of anti-communal rhetoric. The resignation from the Naidu Cabinet and the TDP of minority leaders may not reverse the party8217;s altered political course. But, the election-eve inner-party unrest can compound the contrariness of its stance. The king-maker of the past is certainly keener to stay a state satrap. Power in the state is understandably more important to Naidu than UF convenorship. His compulsions, however, are not the country8217;s, and cannot be claimed to give him a right to hold it to political ransom.

It is time for Naidu to make a clear choice. Hunting with the hound and running with the hare is a tactic that has been tried before by others. Such dual roles helped neither any of the parties involved eventually nor the cause of democracy. The TDP and its leadership can claim no credit for ensuring stability at the Centre, if their stance aims only at keeping the country guessing, the coalition regime on tenterhooks andtheir own vote banks intact.