Political Diary

It may or may not have anything to do with bad weather, but Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (60) is known to be a strong-willed politician. He has been more so after returning to power in Andhra Pradesh this year. The victory perhaps left him intoxicated, the reason why he has been crisscrossing the state as if the polls — due five years later — are to be held next month. The AP CM belongs to that rare breed of politicians who became a chief minister even before he could become a minister of any consequence. In 1980, two years after he was elected MLA, Reddy became a junior minister. But after that, he spent nearly two decades in political wilderness. Subsequently, he got elected to the Lok Sabha, but P V Narasimha Rao, who as prime minister called the shots in Delhi, made sure Reddy did not rise any further. YSR could thus do nothing more than bide his time. True, it took a long in coming, but wisdom (in his own words) dawned on him when he went on a padayatra of the state in 2003. Chandrababu Naidu was at the zenith of his political power. Trudging hundreds of kilometres in the hot sun, YSR says he learned firsthand the problems of rural folk. Coming to power a year later, in 2004, he launched a slew of populist programmes — seven hours of free power for farmers, housing for poor; and a medical insurance that allowed the poor to get themselves operated even in top private hospitals for free. Realpolitik has been YSR's real strength. In a party that's well-known for destabilizing CMs, Reddy has completely broken the back of all rebels. What's more, he has been able to cut to size the Telangana movement and the Maoists whose writ runs in large parts of AP. Reddy also knows well how to garner resources from the Centre. After he began his tenure as CM, YSR kept reminding the Centre — rhetorically, of course — that the number of Andhra Pradesh's poor was higher than its population. It turned out to be creative way to get Central funds. Although a doctor by education, YSR has taken full advantage of economic growth. The state has turned a realtor under him and is raising up to Rs 1,500 crore per year by selling government land (including disputed land). A tough man, YSR uses 'saam, daam, danda, bhed' freely. He comes across as sensitive and is generally known to be a friend to friends and a bad enemy to make. He often goes out of his way to bail out friends from a spot without concern for public opinion. A few months ago, he launched a Telugu newspaper and TV channel just to spite the language press that, he thought, was aligned to his bete noire, Chandrababu Naidu. YSR is a family man and like all Congressmen believes in promoting his relatives. His son, Jaganmohan Reddy, was elected to Lok Sabha from Kadapa — YSR held it once. He has spent considerable resources towards developing his native Pulivendula by building irrigation projects that lift water from Krishna and carry it over hundreds of kilometres to his home. When the historical Vijayanagar Empire — it extended over large parts of modern Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh — collapsed, the hereditary tax collectors of the regime were rendered jobless. In the drylands of Rayalaseema where it seldom rains, these tax collectors soon became brigands extorting money from visitors passing through the area. YSR comes from such a background of consummate survivors. But will he survive the aircrash? That is the question