In some ways, Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister, is caught between the devil and the deep sea. He is being cajoled into aligning with the powers that be—in this case, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Narendra Modi and his associates. Naidu has no fundamental objection to this, except that he was once a close associate of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the former BJP leader.
At the time, Naidu had strong ties with Vajpayee and even advised him to move up the 2004 general election—a decision that ultimately led to the BJP’s ouster from power. The logic then was different. Now, however, Naidu must align with the Modi-led regime for entirely new reasons. He has realised that the support and resources required to govern the newly bifurcated Andhra Pradesh can only come from the BJP under Modi. Without this backing, his government risks running into serious trouble.
In 2014, when Modi came to power at the Centre, Naidu worked hard to develop his new capital at Amaravati on a greenfield site. He had to genuflect to the BJP bosses to secure the goodies that a new state requires for development. He aimed to create another Hyderabad. While Hyderabad had relied on investments from the US—such as Google—Naidu envisioned Amaravati being sustained by investments from Singapore and Far East nations like Japan. The fact that Amaravati was once an old Buddhist centre, Naidu felt, would help attract Japanese investment and boost the tourism sector.
But in 2019, Naidu’s party lost the elections, after he had severed ties with the BJP. It is believed he did so since, as a senior political leader, he sensed a chance to become Prime Minister with Congress support. Allegedly, a top industrialist had assured him that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi would not oppose his bid for the PM’s position. That plan, however, did not materialise. Jagan Mohan Reddy—leader of a breakaway faction of the Congress—strongly opposed the idea of the Congress returning to power.
Jagan had earlier spent time in jail and faced multiple cases related to pilfering funds and looting the treasury. But after coming to power, he toured the state extensively, promising goodies and welfare schemes for the poor and underprivileged. With the backing of his MPs, he extended support to the BJP in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. However, deep down, he never fully trusted the BJP. Jagan is a Christian by faith—a group largely comprising converts from lower castes.
His policies were primarily targeted toward them, as well as Muslims and other poorer sections of society. He distributed benefits to the poor in the form of cheap food grains, cooking oil, free house sites, and various other essentials, including clothes. Through these promises, Jagan has built a large voter base made up largely of the poor and underprivileged.
Naidu, who was earlier out of reckoning with the BJP, has once again made amends with the party. The RSS—the ideological backbone of the BJP—also supports Naidu, believing that his strong Hindu support base will help uphold Hindu values.
Naidu now plays a different role in Modi’s plans. The BJP is running out of support in South India, where it wholeheartedly needs help to build its version of India. Stated openly or otherwise, the BJP envisions an India—that is, Bharat—which is electorally focused on North India. It especially seeks Naidu’s support because there is a growing fear that, with electoral delimitation, political power could shift to the South.
There are other obstacles: the Telugu people of Andhra Pradesh had already lost seats in the Lok Sabha during the 1960s because the region’s population was not increasing as quickly as that of North India. Tamil Nadu is already actively resisting this shift. In fact, it is largely due to the efforts of Tamil leaders that political power has not tilted further toward the North since the late 1970s.
Naidu is now indirectly supporting the BJP by not raising issues that could affect South India. However, his deputy chief minister, Pawan Kalyan—who belongs to the Kapu community, a populous caste in the state and was inducted into politics by Modi—is openly supporting the Modi line. Pawan Kalyan’s elder brother, Chiranjeevi, a leading film star and former founder of the Janasatta political party, who was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan.
Naidu’s son, an MBA graduate from the US, is also endorsing Modi’s stance, as is Naidu’s wife, who is said to have played a significant role in urging her husband to take the pro-Modi line.
Nonetheless, Naidu is in a strong position, especially with the BJP still aspiring to secure a full majority in Parliament. While the BJP has the option of seeking crucial support from Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) in Bihar, top BJP leaders consider Naidu to be the more reliable ally. This places Naidu in a strategically strong position politically. How things pan out remains to be seen.
