Opinion: 'Young’, energetic Chandrababu Naidu turns 75; creates a city, two CMs

Hyderabad: Nara Chandrababu Naidu turns 75 today. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister for a fourth term and Telugu Desam Party supremo has been a distinguished personality with achievements exclusive to his credit in contemporary Indian politics for five decades.

Naidu’s long and chequered political peregrination makes him enviable for he never has or has been retired into political wilderness.

Naidu’s political dexterity and astuteness are just unmatched. Though Dame Luck did smile on him on umpteen occasions, his meticulous planning and, at times, Machiavellian scheming, indeed, helped him turn the wheel of fortune turn in his favour.

A man with a discernible eye for the minutest political detail and an undying appetite for risk-taking, Naidu has demonstrated his uncanny knack of unparalleled ability to take political crests and troughs in his stride equally.

Naidu has seen heights and depths of politics in his 50 years of political life. In just about two years from now, he would cross the benchmark of completing 50 years of legislative experience, because he stepped into the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly as an MLA from Chandragiri constituency in Chittoor district in 1978.

He lays his own path

Naidu has waded through a path of success he meticulously laid for himself, making all the right moves at every point of inflection.

When his close chum Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy from the day one of his legislative life politely declined to join hands with him in crossing over to the Telugu Desam Party after it created history wresting power from the Congress (I), Naidu had demonstrated his grit and determination to trust his intuition and instincts in choosing the way forward.

Dr Reddy, as well as Naidu, might have surely seen the future that they must train themselves into becoming the horses for the courses on the political canvas that’s going to evolve. Neither of them wanted to compromise on their prospects to etch their respective indelible impressions on Indian politics.

Was that due to an unwritten understanding between the two leaders? It’s for people to draw their conclusions.

After all, both have tasted resounding victories, even as the rivalry and camaraderie between them were always conspicuous. Dr Reddy has gone too early while riding on the crest of his popularity.

However, Naidu had to tread the path of success the hard way, receiving bouquets and brickbats alike.

He weathered so many storms, yet remained undaunted.

Naidu’s paradigmatic risk-taking ability proved to be pivotal to his political career. With a well-thought-out move, he swerved the wheel of the TDP by usurping the driver’s seat from the party patriarch N T Rama Rao with the intent of steering the party clear of an impending mess, staring at it then.

Naidu eventually secured a popular endorsement to his act of commission by playing his aces craftily in 1999.

His clever and opportunistic moves to join hands with Communists, the BJP, and even the Congress are a testament to his political legerdemain and acute shrewdness in politics. He succeeded sometimes and he had failed on a few other occasions in assessing his political permutations and combinations.

Creator of Cyberabad

Chandrababu Naidu carved a niche for himself by becoming the creator of a third city - Cyberabad.

When the Economic Liberalisation policies initiated by P V Narasimha Rao began to bear fruit, Naidu was the first one to lap up the opportunity to secure benefits for Andhra Pradesh.

He thought out of the box as is his wont and he’s the first Chief Minister of his time to have thought about inviting Microsoft to open its office in Hyderabad. He aggressively marketed the City by highlighting the talent pool from the engineering colleges, availability of land, government incentives and a whole lot of apps for global giants to open shop in Hyderabad.

He is singularly responsible for convincing Bill Gates to open the second largest development centre in the world for Microsoft -- outside Redmond -- in Hyderabad.

That seed blossomed into a magnificent tree and his idea transcended into a massive explosion of the IT industry in Hyderabad. All his successors beginning with Dr Rajasekhara Reddy to the present Chief Minister of Telangana A Revanth Reddy had to diligently pursue the policy and bolster the same.

If Naidu claims that he is a visionary, it may sound like self-aggrandisement. But, I think he is fully qualified to claim credit for the success of the idea, for his successors proved that any great policy would be embellished further as government is a continuous process.

Naidu conceived the idea of a greenfield international airport whose scope was enlarged and implemented from scratch by Dr Rajasekhara Reddy who had pursued the project awarded to GMR Group by Naidu.

Ditto with the idea of Outer Ring Road. Naidu has too many things to his credit like the creation of IIIT-Hyderabad; NALSAR; Hyderabad International Convention Centre; Shilparamam; Shilpakala Vedika; Raheja Mindspace and so on. The list is long.

Naidu did not require any brand ambassadors to boost and promote any idea. He became the poster boy for every project he had conceived.

Political downside

As part of the political rollercoaster journey, he lost power to his buddy of the days of yore Dr Reddy. But he had effectively played the role of the leader of the Opposition. He had to be content with the same role in the subsequent elections too, as Dr Reddy got a renewed term.

Naidu had moved in widdershins and joined forces with whom he had fought earlier politically in 2009, as he always wanted to remain in the thick of things irrespective of victory or defeat in elections.

After the State was separated in 2014, Naidu was bang on there to evoke confidence in his leadership among people. With a single-point agenda of gaining power, he joined hands with the parties he had himself eschewed earlier. What’s wrong? Absolutely nothing.

He made his efforts to create a new greenfield capital city and christened it as Amaravathi. However, as the project was dragging its feet, he broke ranks with the BJP which has been at the helm of power in Delhi since 2014.

Naidu’s party was decimated in 2019 by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s fledgling YSR Congress, an election which the TDP had fought all alone for the first time in its history. Naidu is perhaps the only Chief Minister who was defeated by a father-son duo.

Produced two CMs from his school

But Chandrababu Naidu does not sulk against people for voting him out. He never did it. He accepted the vox populi gracefully. And he didn’t stop at that.

He began playing the role of the opposition effectively and during his stint as the leader of the opposition in the Assembly - be it in undivided or separated State, he always lived amid the people. His relentless effort in impressing the electorate and also realigning with the parties that he had bitterly despised yielded the desired result. He is one person who has no other avocation but politics. He eats, breathes and sleeps politics.

He led a coalition that saw to it that his bête noire YS Jagan and his party were smashed to smithereens at the hustings in 2024.

Naidu can proudly wear the badge of honour on his sleeve of producing the two Chief Ministers of Telangana – KCR and Revanth Reddy, who both had served in. the TDP for long.

Naidu weathered the biggest storm of being incarcerated for 53 days by the YS Jagan regime. Jaganmohan Reddy incurred the wrath of the people for this audacious act.

Always remained relevant in politics

Close to 50 years on, the man, with an iron gut and steel resolve, stayed on relevant in politics even to date and more powerfully than ever. Falling prey to snakes and climbing ladders in the political board game is his lifestyle. He is the fulcrum of the National Democratic Alliance Government in Delhi today. He is the oxygen pipe for the latest leg of Narendra Modi regime. But the mutual obsequiousness between Modi and Naidu is always teetering. It’s only for mutual benefit that they are keeping themselves limber.

Chandrababu Naidu was indeed the cohesive glue to stitch a coalition in 1996 in Delhi as convener of the United Front and in 1999 as the convener of the NDA. His swift action was indeed the cliched stitch in time to save nine.

Today, on his 75th birthday, Naidu is going strong with his ambitious projects and also grappling with poor finances of the State that are stopping him in tracks when it comes to implementing his lofty poll promises.

Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him ever. He inscribed his own pages permanently in the contemporary politics of India.

Many happy returns of your birthday, Sri Nara Chandrababu Naidu garu for many more years of happy and healthy service in public life.

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