Chandrababu Shifts Focus: Loyalty Out, Royalty In?
Did Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu change his model? The answer seems to be yes. There’s talk within the party that now he is focusing more on the royalty factor rather than on who is loyal to the party. That’s why many leaders feel that Chandrababu has sidelined those who have been completely devoted to the party and is now moving in a different direction. Since the time Chandrababu took charge of the TDP, he has distanced himself from many who had been with him from the beginning. He is reportedly acting in a similar way even with certain officials. According to a senior minister, both Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh seem to be focusing more on short-term goals than on long-term objectives.
It is said that, with the intention of clearing the path for Nara Lokesh, many senior figures in both the government and the party have been sidelined, and new faces have been brought to the forefront. On one hand, Chandrababu repeatedly speaks about Vision 2047 from a governance perspective, but party leaders are questioning whether he is giving any thought to a vision for the party itself. Many leaders believe that apart from saying that the return of Jagan would harm the state, the TDP has failed to strongly communicate its own relevance and necessity. Party leaders also claim that prioritizing royalty over loyalty has led to close ties with Jagan’s associates. Companies that TDP leaders once accused of being Jagan’s benamis — such as Shirdi Sai Electricals and Indosol Solar — are now being welcomed with open arms by the coalition government.
During Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s tenure, Megha Engineering rose to prominence, and back then the TDP had leveled several allegations against it. Yet, Chandrababu awarded projects worth thousands of crores to the same company during his first term, and is continuing the same pattern in his second term as well. According to a minister, the idea behind this is that even if Jagan returns to power someday, by channeling work through such companies, they can avoid inquiries or cases — making things easier to manage. The view within the party is that Chandrababu and Nara Lokesh believe assigning key posts to officials and companies known to be close to Jagan will help them operate smoothly now and safeguard their family’s future from trouble later. This same model is reportedly being followed in the appointment of officials. TDP leaders are surprised that some officials have been publicly appointed to key positions merely because they helped the party during its opposition days.
