New 'twin city' idea increases Naidu's woes

N Chandrababu Naidu, the TDP supremo and chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, is increasingly treading a slippery path this election. Every issue that Naidu has raised and hoped to cash in has failed to deliver and excite the electorate.

From the time when he ordered the early dissolution of the state assembly hoping to raise an issue of Naxal-related violence in the state and talks of a nexus between the Naxals and the opposition have failed to make any headway in terms of influencing the overall agenda of the ensuing elections.

Having failed to enthuse or make these two an election issue, Naidu tried yet again by raising the specter of how a divided Andhra Pradesh did not serve any purpose and the state needed to be preserved the way it was.

Naidu's strategy to project the TRS-Congress alliance and the demand for a separate Telangana state as against the interests of the people of coastal region has failed to work big time.

Instead, the talk of the 'new twin-cities' of Vijayawada and Guntur as the capital of the future separate Andhra state is gaining ground in the influential coastal belt.

"A separate Telangana would mean a separate Andhra state. We would have our own assembly, high court, secretariat and our own twin cities. We have nothing to loose if Telangana gets separated," is increasingly the argument that is been heard now.

Reports are already pointing out the fact that there has been an abnormal escalation of real estate prices between Vijayawada and Guntur.

According to real estate sources, an acre of farmland along the Vijayawada-Guntur highway now costs nearly Rs 32 lakh. Now Andhraites are seeing a good business proposition in the creation of a separate Telangana.

This surprising twist came after Daggubati Venkateshwar Rao, another son-in-law of N T Rama Rao and who recently joined the Congress, openly supported the demand for a separate Telangana state and based it on the argument that the separation would only benefit the Andhra region.

He also consistently maintained that a friendly separation was always better than enemies living together. The argument did the trick and now more people are keen on having separate states.

Viewed as a political dropout and also a political novice compared to the Machiavellian Naidu, Daggubati has been hitting where it hurts the most.

Once seen as a very promising slogan to counter the potential gains from a TRS-Congress electoral pact in Telangana region, the ruling TDP's campaign in favour of a united Andhra Pradesh may now boomerang in the face of this new development.

Daggubati's utterances have overnight changed the opinion of ruling party leaders on Naidu's dealing with Daggubati. "I think Naidu is wrong. He is making many enemies. He should have brought Daggubati back into the party fold," said a senior leader of TDP. After falling out with the BJP, Daggubati is said to have had patiently waited for Naidu's nod to rejoin the TDP, which never came.

Another shot in the arm came this time from north coastal Andhra, when prospective Look Sabha candidate Botsa Satyanarayana openly supported the demand for the separate statehood of Telangana.

North coastal Andhra which is another backward region and which leaders from the affluent Nellore, Krishna, Guntur and other coastal districts have made their political home, the sentiments for a separate statehood are gaining increasing acceptance.

In the absence of any positive sentiment for a united Andhra Pradesh in Telangana and Andhra after 48 years of co-existence, Naidu's strategy is heading nowhere.

Observed Yalamanchili Sivaji, former TDP MP from Guntur district, "Though Andhra families lived in Hyderabad and neighbouring Telangana districts for several decades they could not mingle with the local populace. It is evident in the fact that marriages between girls and boys of Telangana and Andhra families did not take place."

A clear sign that it has recognised the new development which favours the creation of new twin cities, the TDP has toned down its aggressive posture in its election manifesto too. With a heavy tilt towards rural development in the election manifesto, Naidu has come a full circle.

The development plank which he was passionate about in his eight-year long stint as chief minister was dumped after 30 October, 2003 when Naxals made an abortive bid to assassinate him.

Naidu's reasons for looking out for new issues may stem from the fact that the electorate may no longer vote 'TDP for development'.