Hyderabad: The inherent fissures within the Opposition camp on the post of Prime Minister are evident even before the final phase of polling later next month. Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, who shared the dais with Congress president Rahul Gandhi and TDP supremo and Andhra Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in Karnataka on Friday, said that his aim was to see Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister after the elections.
Gowda was addressing a rally held at Raichur and said that he had only one aim of making Rahul Gandhi the next Prime Minister and he wants to see that happen. Apparently, Rahul Gandhi must be happy to hear this from Gowda whose prime ministerial ambitions are open to all.
But, what Rahul Gandhi perhaps might not know was that the same Deve Gowda, who campaigned for TDP in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections two weeks ago, had said that Chandrababu Naidu was eminently suitable and the right candidate for the post of Prime Minister. Gowda addressed several public meetings in West Godavari and Krishna districts on 5 April and pledged his support to Naidu as the PM choice.
When Gowda announced that Naidu was a PM candidate from the Opposition camp, TDP supporters raised slogans saying “Deskh ki neta, Chandrababu Naidu”. Even at a press meet before winding up his Andhra tour, Gowda said that Naidu was a national leader and would be the right candidate for the PM post.
Not long ago, Naidu himself declared that Deve Gowda would become the PM again, if BJP was voted out of power at the Centre.
“Gowda, who provided a dream government at the Centre in the United Front days, deserves another chance as his first term ended abruptly,” Naidu said. In fact, this statement from Naidu had endeared him to Gowda and his son and Karnataka Chief Minister Kumaraswamy.
Some Congress leaders from Andhra who went to the Raichur meeting were surprised to listen to the changed tune of Gowda on the PM post within two weeks.
Raichur (ST) abuts Andhra Pradesh and has a sizeable chunk of 70,000 Telugu speaking votes which are decisive in the polls to be held on 23 April. The Raichur meeting was also used as a show of unity among Naidu, Gowda and Rahul Gandhi.
When these Andhra Congress leaders pointed out Gowda’s different tunes on the PM post, their counterparts from Karnataka are understood to have replied that the JDS leaders were telling different things to different parties at the national level.
“Everyone is having a secret understanding with everyone, and no one knows what will happen,” is a remark believed to have been made by a Karnataka minister.
Same is the case with Naidu too. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, who is wasting no time in criss-crossing the country to campaign for other non-BJP parties, is understood to have been promising the PM post to different leaders— BSP’s Mayawati, SP’s Mulayam Singh and TMC’s Mamata Banerjee, besides Rahul Gandhi, in case BJP fails to secure a majority.
While speaking at Raichur, the Congress president predicted that Chandrababu Naidu would come to power in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections and bag a majority of LS seats. The fact is that Rahul Gandhi’s Congress contested all 175 MLAs and 25 MPs in AP.
His prediction on Naidu as the next Chief Minister even before the counting of votes on 23 May caused embarrassment to Congress candidates in Andhra Pradesh.