Naidu8217;s yes and no

The affirmative has again accompanied the negative in Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu's response to the BJP's overtures to him...

The affirmative has again accompanied the negative in Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu8217;s response to the BJP8217;s overtures to him on the eve of the Lok Sabha and state assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh. Naidu has named the resultant arrangement as a mere 8220;seat adjustment8221; 8212; surely an inadequate description for a poll pact by which he gives the BJP no less than eight Lok Sabha and 25 assembly seats 8212; and ruled out the possibility of the TDP joining the National Democratic Alliance.

This cannot be ignored as the party8217;s internal affair. His compulsions are clear. He had hardly any alternative to the alliance, call it by any other name. The traditional constituency of the TDP stands trifurcated with the TDP NTR of Lakshmi Parvathi and the Anna TDP of Harikrishna ranged against it. He has lost his long-time Left allies and it is small comfort that the CPI and the CPIM here cannot agree on the right attitude to the state Congress.

He has not concealed his concern over the prospect of losingMuslim votes as well. The alliance, however, can hardly be an answer if it is so half-hearted. It is all right his saying that it is intended only to defeat the Congress and serve the objective of stability at the Centre. But what about the host of other issues on which the voter has the right to know the shared views of the TDP and the BJP?

The question is addressed to the BJP as well. Not at the state level alone, or not only because it had once come out with a chargesheet against Naidu. But, at the national level, in particular, in view of what the party has been saying about the preferability of pre-poll pacts on issues in order to ensure post-poll performance and stability at the Centre. This was what was claimed to distinguish the coalition headed by it. Jayalalitha and the AIADMK may have rendered that abortive.

But that is no excuse for abandoning the effort now. Seat-sharing on the Andhra pattern without a semblance of an issue-based alliance cannot help the objective of stability.

But thenyes and no8217; has been Naidu8217;s stock answer for quite some time now. Almost to every question concerning relations with the BJP ever since it came to power at the head of a coalition at the Centre. More precisely, from the moment the TDP leader walked out of the United Front, over whose liquidation he had been presiding during the UF8217;s turbulent days in power in New Delhi. His first attempt then was to prove that this had nothing to do with the political change at the national level.

Followed the claim of equidistance8217; between the BJP and the Congress and a resolve to stick to this tightrope-walking stance. The Chief Minister kept the country in agonising suspense till the last minute as the Atal Behari Vajpayee government awaited the fate of its first trust vote in the Lok Sabha. Finally, and after seeing through its nominee as the Speaker, the TDP cast its votes, but not its political lot, with the government. While backing the BJP-led regime from the outside, Naidu has been at pains to illustrate hisindependence periodically with strident criticism of the Centre on select issues like attacks on the minorities. The TDP chief is trying the same tack on electoral tactics too.