 "N Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh, CM")
Blamed of flip-flops on the demonetisation move of the Centre, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who heads the 13-member panel on note-ban related issues, had to put up with this brief discomfort as he has been continuously trying to do a balancing act that includes communicating with people facing immediate hardships on the ground in his state.
Speaking in Delhi on Monday, Naidu said the situation has been easing out due to the increase in currency circulation and the move will benefit the nation in the long-term and problems were temporary.
This comes in complete contrast to the comments picked up from one of the speeches he has recently made at the party forum, such as the decision was not as per "our wish", and he had to 'break his head' to find solutions, though Naidu clarified that his words were distorted.
Much before these comments had created a flutter in the national media, the opposition parties in the state had intensified criticism against Naidu as people started facing difficulties in their daily lives and continued to remind them of Chief Minister's first claim that it was he who had asked for banning of high value currency notes to eliminate black money. It may be recalled that on October 11, almost a month prior to the announcement of demonetisation, Naidu wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a ban Rs 1000 and Rs 500 denomination currency notes.
However, Naidu was quick to respond to the practical difficulties as he started monitoring the situation of currency supply in Andhra Pradesh on a daily basis since November 9 in the presence of media and bank officials. He was expressing his views, at times his frustration at lack of lower denomination currency in the banks until the alleged flip-flop comment was picked up by the media just after his appointment to the national panel, which was constituted to advice on problems related to the implementation of demonetisaion. At one of these daily sessions he even commented that the demonetisation was the most difficult moment in his life.
When the requests for interviews from the national electronic media poured in just after the 'flip-flop' comments, Naidu was unwilling to accept. Sharing his bitterness over this episode with the officials, he said that no one had bothered to cover the efforts when he spent hours of time on daily monitoring of the situation, while one twisted statement had attracted a lot of attention.
However, the opposition parties in the state have a different take on frequent 'change of stance' by the Chief Minister as they have been actively engaged with people in the last one month in a bid to mobilise the opinion against the decision.
"We have been watching Naidu's flip-flops on the issue of demonetisation from day one. He may be intermittently making some statements to avoid the people's ire. But we believe that both Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Naidu were on the same page as far as the demonetisation decision was concerned," P Madhu, CPI(M), Andhra Pradesh state secretary told Business Standard.
CPM's stand on demonetisation
The CPM has turned aggressive in the state in recent times by launching agitations against certain industrial projects besides conducting rallies against the government as it has seen an opportunity to regain its mass base that could as well culminate into some electoral gains in future elections in the state. The increased turn out of people at opposition rallies recently was a cause of reinforced confidence in parties such as CPM as it was a cause of as much worry in the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) headed by Chief Minister Naidu.
Madhu was unwilling to agree with Naidu's latest observations that the situation was easing out with increased currency circulation: "Sales in a footware shop in Vijayawada are still down to 30-35 per cent compared to the pre-demonetisation period. A roadside vendor in Tanuku town sells a bulky and the sweetest Guava fruit just for Rs 20 which would have costed me not less than Rs 40 in the normal days. People and the economy had badly suffered due to demonetisation. It will take couple of more months to get normal, leave alone a complete recovery."
When asked as to how the state government was responsible for the situation, Madhu says it was the members of TDP and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) along with BJP MPs who had not joined the demonstration at Parliament against the demonetisation and they together share the responsibility for its adverse effects on people and the economy.
YSR Congress's stand on demonetisation
According to YSR Congress Party spokesperson and former minister Botcha Satyanarayana, the statements of Naidu on the issue of demonetisation has to be understood separately from the issues of demonetisation itself.
"No one questions the objective of the demonetisation and all that we were saying was that it was badly conceived and poorly implemented as it lacks a proper homework. When it comes to Naidu's comments, they follow a simple logic. If there is a general perception of success pertaining to a decision, Naidu tends to take all the credit for it. If some thing goes wrong or fails to yield the expected results then he attributes all the failure to the other person," Satyanarayana said.
According to him, the demonetisation woes of common people were far from over in the state. "Not even 40 per cent of the social security pensions were disbursed to the beneficiaries till today. Even the ruling party leaders have been admitting the continued difficulties to people," Satyanarayana claimed.
