Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister was once a very ambitious man. He has now been booked in his state by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government for “instigating people”. The Andhra Pradesh Police have booked Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh under Section 153 (read with 34) of the Indian Penal Code. Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh had tweeted and condemned a reported incident where a Dalit family claimed their child had died due to the vehicular restrictions enforced by the police during the welcome rally procession for the newly appointed Women and Child Welfare Minister KV Usha Sricharan.
Nothing portrays the fall of Chandrababu Naidu better than the police’ action against him and his son. Once considered a formidable leader of Andhra Pradesh, he has now been reduced to the annals of history as an irrelevant man whose party is being systematically supressed in the state. Chandrababu Naidu had prime ministerial ambitions. In 2019, he thought he could forge a rainbow coalition of opposition parties and unseat Narendra Modi from the country’s top office.
Once an NDA Ally, now a Nobody
Just like he had backstabbed his father-in-law NT Rama Rao, one of Andhra Pradesh’s most popular chief ministers, Chandrababu Naidu left the NDA hanging in the middle by bailing out of their alliance and also brought a no-confidence motion against BJP in the Parliament. Naidu hurled all kinds of abuses on PM Modi and like Mamata, he targeted him and his wife saying, “Though he is married, he ignored his wife and did not even give her a divorce.” He left no stone unturned to sling mud on PM Modi. However, in this blind rant-spree, he forgot that a challenger like YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was waiting in the wings. Babu’s negative campaign spelt doom for his party soon enough.
Naidu Lost the War to ‘Win’ a Battle
Chandrababu made a grave mistake by taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a personal level. He made an enemy out of Narendra Modi, and that is not a viable political strategy for any ‘leader’ in India right now. Naidu thought the collective might of the opposition would be enough to defeat the BJP, and so, he decided to attack the Prime Minister with no regard for any political decency.
The move backfired rather magnificently, and the man admitted the same in 2019 itself. Back then, Naidu said, “We severed ties with the BJP and withdrew our ministers from the union cabinet to press our demands on Amaravati, Polavaram and Special status.” Naidu also opined that the move backfired and the party suffered a huge setback due to his decision to part ways with the BJP.
With regards to allying with the Congress, the TDP chief said, “I had taken the decision to share seats with Congress in Telangana. We fared miserably. Halfway through I realised that it was a grave mistake, but it was too late.”
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Here’s the fun part. Naidu lost the elections too. The 2019 Lok Sabha polls saw many political heavyweights facing embarrassing defeats. Naidu topped the list of political losers. His party was reduced to just 23 seats out of the total 175 Assembly constituencies in the state, compared to more than 100 seats it had bagged in the last assembly elections. In the Lok Sabha, the TDP was reduced to 3 seats only.
The Long Term Effect
For Chandrababu Naidu, the long-term ramifications of his political miscalculation are beginning to show themselves only now. For starters, he has been booked by the same police which he once led, for something as flimsy as criticizing a sitting minister in the Jagan government.
The relentless and distasteful remarks that Naidu made against PM Modi have left him isolated in the Indian political scene. Chandrababu Naidu has no friends in politics, and he is alone. The chances of him reviving his career are close to nil. Leave alone national politics, Naidu’s stature in Andhra politics has been taking a big hit for quite some time as well.
This is what happens with every leader that crosses the proverbial red line in Indian politics – that of abusing Prime Minister Modi after backstabbing the BJP. They are all reduced to political has-beens.
