India Talks

Hyderabad: In the summer of 2004, the redoubtable KCR was speaking some fiery cartoon bubbles. The target was Naidu, described as pittaladora, pundakoru, gaja donga, etc. The regime of Naidu, hapless as it was, attempted a librarian’s defence. It hit him with a book.

The party brought out a booklet titled Power – KCR’s Goal. Splitting the State – His Path. In it, poised heroically on the prow of a sinking ship, Naidu sang his My Heart Will Go On. He spoke of his love for a united Andhra Pradesh and the perfidy of enemies of his vision.

Leading up to that long hot summer, YSR had already set the stage for the impending coup. KCR now came upon the scene and, by virtue of his alliance with the Congress and the force of his wit, became a bee in Naidu’s bonnet. Naidu is often angry but never apoplectic, but the rhetoric in this 36-page diatribe against KCR comes close to rage. The anger is captured in a series of cartoons depicting the TRS chief in different avatars. In one of them, we see KCR poised with a huge axe about to sunder the sweet state of Andhra Pradesh.

“He is a political chameleon,” the text complains. “When he was a minister in the Chandrababu Naidu cabinet, he did nothing for the development of Telangana. Now he is shedding crocodile tears in the name of backwardness of Telangana. He is insulting the wisdom and sagacity of Telangana voters by launching a malicious propaganda.”

Then it lays out its lament: “No investments will be forthcoming (if AP is divided) and the state will get weakened politically, economically and socially. Naxalites will once again become a predominant force in Telangana. KCR’s only aim is to come to power by provoking innocent youth and making them scapegoats in the name of movement.”

It also records its observation that KCR had been an avid supporter of the TDP’s policies when he was in the party and had betrayed it in the pursuit of a vaulting personal ambition. That, quizzically, confers upon KCR the unique distinction of having backstabbed the backstabber.