If KCR tries to arrest me, his government will collapse. I am not his subservient. I am also a Chief Minister like him. How dare he conspires against me?” roared Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
“None can save this wily fox; not even Brahma,” thundered Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
This was the bitterness brewing between the two Chief Ministers not long ago. There were at least a couple of occasions in the recent past when they were supposed to see eye to eye with each other. However, they conveniently stayed away from those occasions only to avoid any eye contact.
Nobody would have expected then that Naidu and KCR would forget all the bitterness in no time and shake hands with each other one day. The occasion was the foundation stone laying ceremony for Amaravati, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh. Last week, Naidu sprang a surprise on his party leaders and also people of his state by choosing to go to the residence of the Telangana Chief Minister to personally invite him to the Amaravati foundation laying function.
KCR reciprocated the gesture and received Naidu with open arms. Both of them had a one-on-one meeting for about 15-20 minutes, sharing their views on the problems confronting both the states.
And at Amaravati, Naidu accorded a rousing reception to KCR. Perhaps after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was KCR who got the maximum prominence at the function. When he rose to make a brief speech, the Telangana Chief Minister sincerely wished that Amaravati would become one of the world’s best cities under the able leadership of Naidu. And Modi, too, acknowledged the new-found friendship between the two leaders.
What could be the reason for this sudden bonhomie between Naidu and KCR in this short span of time? Everybody would agree that there are no permanent friends or foes in politics. But having seen the kind of animosity between the two leaders only a couple of months ago, it was rather surprising for political pundits to see the two Chief Ministers burying the hatchet so quickly.
It is learnt that a lot of backroom negotiations have taken place between the warring Chief Ministers before they actually met in Hyderabad.
Apparently, the cash-for-vote case involving Naidu and the phone-tapping case involving KCR have done more damage than yielding any political benefits for both the leaders. In the end, they had no option but to allow the cases to fizzle out on their own.
The investigations into these cases have so far made no headway and all the accused in the cases are out on bail. Needless to say, one won’t be surprised if the cases are dismissed in due course of time for want of proper evidence.
Now, the moot question is whether the Amaravati episode will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the relationship between the two Telugu states; or whether the Andra Pradesh Chief Minister and his Telangana counterpart will go back to their wily political games to run each other down. There are still several contentious issues between the two states such as the sharing of Krishna river water, which can be resolved only through peaceful negotiations across the table.
For this, both the Chief Ministers should have to stop playing with the emotions of the people and display a lot of statesmanship.
Fortunately, Naidu and KCR have been speaking in the language of development. Both the Chief Ministers have taken up developmental programmes at a brisk pace. Notwithstanding the simmering demand among the people for special category status for Andhra Pradesh, Naidu has been able to convert the construction of Amaravati into a people’s movement.
It has impressed the Prime Minister so much that he announced all help from the Centre to the state, though he might not have immediately announced the quantum of financial package.
And KCR, too, has prioritised his programmes of development. Though severe drought and growing number of suicides by farmers have posed a big challenge to his administration, the Telangana Chief Minister is not unduly worried, because he is of the strong view that there are no shortcut solutions to these problems. He wants to expedite implementation of major irrigation projects.
He is hopeful that his government’s flagship programmes like Mission Kakatiya and Water Grid would go a long way in transforming the economy of the state in the coming years, while welfare programmes like old age pensions and double bedroom houses for the weaker sections would fetch him political benefits.