Nagari Harsha vardhan Naidu
“Yes, victory is sweet, but it doesn’t necessarily make life any easier the next season or even the next day.” – Phil Jackson
Andhra Pradesh has witnessed incidents of post-poll violence, which was never witnessed before. While the people of Andhra Pradesh are eagerly waiting for June 4, 2024, the curiosity is marred by the violent incidents across Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, political pundits and analysts are busy attributing the post-poll violence to the debacle of the YSRCP. There appears to be positive waves for Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its alliance partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which means Nara ChandrababuNaidu (CBN) is all set to become the Chief Minister for the fourth time. However, for CBN, the road to Chief Ministership for five years is heavily packed with numerous challenges.
Trust Deficit
The manner in which the YSRCP-led Government had marred the image of Andhra Pradesh, there is a huge ‘trust deficit’ among the new age investors with regard to the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The YSRCP-led Government has not only threatened investors to share their profits, but also drove them out of the State. As a result, not a single meaningful investment took place in the past five years in Andhra Pradesh. What was once seen as a global destination for investments, today is suffering with lack of trust. Marring of capital city, Amaravati in the name of three capitals, driving out investors, violence, etc., have all marred the State’s image. In such a scenario, Naidu has to bank on his image as ‘investor-friendly’ and work closely with traditional investors and thus attract new age investors too. Creating trust among the investors is the major challenge that CBN will be staring at.
Finances
Another foremost challenge is that the new Government will be looking at empty purse with a huge deficit. The YSRCP-led Government has borrowed heavily literally by pawning everything from State Secretariat to income on liquor for the next two decades. The unmindful borrowing by the outgoing Government has taken a heavy toll on the State finances. Adding to this CBN will need money to fund his welfare schemes. Thus, it needs to be seen how CBN will manage State finances for the next five years.
Governance & Administration
The YSRCP-led Government had not carried a single administrative reform in the past five years. Instead, it has only created parallel structures to panchayat raj institutions in the name of service delivery. During its term, the YSRCP has made in-roads into bureaucratic structures and has literally politicised officials in the name of transfers and postings. Such politicisation of officials will be heavy burden that CBN will be inheriting from the YSRCP regime. It will take plenty of time for CBN to get a grip on the administration, unless he initiates some tough decisions in just couple of months after assuming power.
CBN faced a similar challenge of derailed governance system in 2014 too. Shifting from Hyderabad to Amaravati took a toll on Naidu’s administrative skills. Though, physically all offices were shifted to Amaravati, the mindset of the employees remained in Hyderabad. The weekend travel to Hyderabad coupled with Naidu’s late night meetings ensured that the administration was never settled.
Law & Order
Naidu was known for dealing with factional violence with iron fist. However, due to lack of continuity in policy towards factions, in the recent past, factional violence has raised its head in the State. Naidu has to strive hard to put back the law & order on tracks. In the process he has to deal with policy partiality towards the YSRCP, particularly among senior tainted officers, who not only worked tirelessly for YSRCP but also had foisted several cases against TDP activists. Moreover, the police had concocted several cases against CBN and also Nara Lokesh, the next in line and harassed several senior leaders of TDP. In such a scenario it needs to be seen how CBN will deal with the police.
Managing Alliance Partners
One crucial challenge CBN will be facing is managing his alliance partners in the NDA – Janasena Party (JSP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). JSP chief PawanKalyan is known to take impromptu decisions, while BJP is known to make moves in a calculated fashion. Additionally, CBN needs to keep BJP leaders in good humour in the larger interests of the State, particularly when BJP-led NDA is set to form the Government in Delhi.
Strengthening Party
Last, but not the least, Naidu this time has to focus on building and strengthening party also along with the Government. In order to have a smooth transition to the second generation leadership, a strong party with unanimous support is necessary. Most importantly, some leaders who enjoyed fruits under YSRCP regime have joined TDP just before elections, which create ripples within the party among the long standing cadre and newly joined cadre. Simultaneously, numerous cases have been foisted against TDP cadre and leaders across the State. One task at hand for CBN after June 4, 2024 is to ensure that all the party cadre are left free of those concocted cases. Only then, CBN will be able to instill confidence among his party cadre.
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