Regional political parties in india s. Bhatnagar pradeep kumar

Under the bed built to one side are stacked crates of soda-water, garlands collected from meetings are strewn on the floor. There is an ice-box and a picnic hamper with fruit. Dressed in Khaki bush-shirt and slacks, his feet in dustry sneakers, NTR is alerted to an approaching crowd of people by a buzzer sounded by the van driver. A dab of cologne, a quick glance in the mirror above the van's wash basin, and the portly screen portrayer of gods and goodness climbs and aluminium step ladder, through an open hatch, onto the roof of the coach. The effect is electric. From nowhere the crowds begin to pour onto roads. Faces of men, women and children of all ages, light up as recognition dawns. The coach keeps moving to the venue of the public meeting and soon, it is surrounded by a flowing river of people, running along pellmell, stretching far behind and ahead of the coach. Normally falling hours behind his published schedule, NTR has often kept people waiting for hours, sometimes through the night coming in the morning to meetings scheduled the evening before. But there is little impatience, and none remains as his van heaves into view. At small towns, waiting crowds hail passing cars and buses, asking for his whereabouts. Jeeps travelling ahead use loudspeakers to pre-warn town folk of his imminent arrival. His campaign symbol, the bicycle - because it is the common man's vehicle and we stand for

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the common man, he explains - is most visible. The party's yellow flags with the symbol painted on in red flutter atop poles, competing for attention with the Congress(I)'s tricolour and spinning wheel, lit up at night.

NTR plays down his cinema image as a factor in his campaign. "Where is the image", he asks in brief snatches of conversation in between meeting, "I am completely black (with sun beaten) there is no glamour, this dress I am wearing is ordinary. No, it is the faith of the people". But that doesn't tell the whole story, years of film acting have left an indelible mark on the man. In gesture or body language, NTR is an accomplished performer. Whether it is the flick of a hand or a turn of his shoulders to emphasise a point, the practised skill is evident. And his campaigners use large cutt-outs of NTR as Lord Krishna heaped with garlands at important vantage points. It is a role he has often played and the identification is complete.

"That is why the people put their hopes on me", he says by way of explanation. "I've portrayed lots of divine characters,25 so they believe I will do what I promise, that if NTR comes to power there won't be corruption".

NTR offered no palliatives, no solutions. But his message was direct and aimed at the 'Telugu heart'. He speaks of the persistence of poverty in spite of nearly four decades of independence, of Telugu honour which is trampled upon because Delhi appoints and topples Chief Ministers at will, of the Telugu language and its neglect, of the need to give property rights to women, of inflation, costs, fees which deny poor people education and medical help. And to the delight of his inflamed audiences he ridicules MLAs who are happy if they get a vehicle with a flag, a phone, a bungalow and are not bothered about anything else. Do MLAs ever come back and ask you if they can solve your problems? They take votes and go and sit in MLA quarters in air-conditioned rooms, drink and play cards. Is this that purpose why you sent them there? NTR is hampered by the lack of an organisation but relies completely on a strong personal charisma. The tension he builds with his impassioned oratory keeps his crowds cheering and rapt. Roadside meetings scheduled to last a few moments extend into minutes. A scheduled 15-minute speech is prolonged to 45. And his arrivals and departures are chaotic. "I did not come here for power", he says in his panting words, "I did not come here for money. I did not come here for status and prestige. I enjoyed all this and more. I came here as a sanyasi to follow you. I have earned money. I have

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earned status. And all because you gave it to me. I want to do something in return and serve you, vote for the Telugu Desam candidate. I hope he will not disappoint you, but if he does we will throw him out with all dishonour".

And as the cavalcade moves on, there is again bedlam. The river of people again begins its unsteady flow. Rowers and garlands cascade on to the coach. Slowly the crowds ebb, and the young men remaining along with the van fall behind. The catcalls and the whistles grow softer and NTR returns to the cavernous van that is his home for three weeks. Will this emotion translate into votes? "Why not? You saw how they feel for me", he says impassively. That remains to be seen but it is a question being asked anxiously all over the state.

One interesting feature of the campaign was that for the first time the cassettes carried the tapes, played them in a village for some time, distributed party badges and then moved to another village, thus obviating the need for the party volunteers making speeches. The "Bur-rakatha Dalams", which used to dominate election campaigns in the earlier years, were relegated to the background because of the lack of adequate number of troops and expenses incurred in engaging them.

The election campaigns were organised mainly through two or three influential leaders of a village who were considered to be capable of turning the entire electorate into the supporters of a particular party. Invariably, these leaders would be heading different factions there. The Congress(I) succeeded in uniting these factional leaders. Therefore, it was under the impression, that since all the vote-bank leaders were on its side it would win the election. However, this assumption proved to be false.

The election campaign of the Telugu Daseam appeared to be, by and 29 large, secular. Though its detractors tried to paint it as a Kamma party, it had transcended the barriers of caste, creed and religion in its elections campaign. This is borne out by the fact that of the 288 contestants, 152 belonged to the upper castes, 128 to weaker sections and 8 to the minorities, from among the weaker sections, 73 hailed from the Backward class category; 40 were Harijans and 15 Girijans. In other words, about 52 per cent of the candidates belonged to the upper castes and 45 per cent to weaker sections. The position was different in the case of the Congress(I). Whereas the upper castes had 66 per cent candidates, weaker sections constituted 33 per cent. Thus the Congress-I was tilted towards the upper castes in comparison to the TDP list (for details see table-3).

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Also TDP appears to have made a serious attempt to select candidates who were educated and younger in age. Of the 288 candidates, whose educational background is known, 28 held post-graduate degrees and 125 a bachelors degree while 33 had Intermediate qualification and 61 had passed SSC. Another interesting feature of the educated candidates was that 20 were medical doctors, 46 practising advocates and 7 engineers. Thus "professionals" alone constitute 27 per cent As for age, the State-wise average age of the T.D.P. candidates was 41. Thus, while 156 candidates were below the age of 40 years (53 per cent), those below 50 years age constituted 82 per cent of the total candidates (for details see table-1). This undoubtedly leads us to the conclusion, the selection of the TDP candidates was more in favoaur of the young educated political aspirants.

The Role of the Press

There are about 446 Telugu newspapers and periodicals published in Andhra Pradesh. In these elections different newspapers adopted different attitudes in consonance with their party affiliations. 'Eenadu' a Telugu daily newspaper with the largest circulation and edited by Ramoji Rao serialised the election mainfesto of Telugu Desam and campaigned openly against the Congress(I). There were editorials almost every day exhorting the people to vote for the Telugu Desam. Many satires appeared and the corrupt practices of the Congress(I) were highlighted. Thus, it turned, more or less, into a mouth piece of the Telugu Desam Party. Besides flashing the photographs of N.T. Ram Rao on the front page all through his campaign, it made a random survey of the constituencies and forecast that the Telugu Desam would bag seats between the range of 175-200, whereas the Congress(I) would get between 50-80 seats. This was something like a gallop poll and it came true. The world media took keen interest in the elections, correspondents of the BBC and other western media toured the State and gave reports.

Elections

Elections in a democracy have a great significance for they are not merely indicators of public opinion but they also contribute in a measure to the evolution of the political system in the country. They have a three-fold importance - they influence the policies of the government, the organization of parties and the opinion of the citizens.

After the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, four general elections

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were held for the Assembly and six for the Lok Sabha. As Andhra Pradesh forms the fifth biggest state in the Indian Union, general elections attain significance both in the organisational and operational sectors. Features that are specially note-worthy in the electoral politics of this State are: firstly, the impact of caste on elections. It is no doubt misleading to say that Andhra politics conincides with the "major caste contours of the Andhra political landscape"26 but there can be no denying of the fact that all political parties exploit caste at the time of elections. Secondly, in Andhra Pradesh the Congress(I) had an unbroken record of success in elections. In the General Elections of 1967, 1972 and 1978 the State remained its impregnable stronghold. Thirdly, during the last two and a half decades the communist parties have retained their overall voting strength. Due to the split in the ranks of the communists their legislative strength has fallen, but total number of votes polled by the CPI and the CPI(M) put together have not registered any fall. Fourthly, the local and the sub-regional issues, though of just a passing nature, had their impact on general elections. Fifthly, low literacy level of the State notwithstanding, the vernacular news papers in circulation, the number of persons having radio-licences and the percentage of participation of voters in elections are quite high. This may be due to politicisation of the voters. Participation in the freedom struggle and the agitation for a separate linguistic province appears to have created high political consciousness among Andhras. Sixthly, Andhra Pradesh like many other States of the Indian Union, has witnessed in recent years many changes in leadership roles. Until the early fifties, Brahmins, like Pattabhi Sitaramayya, T. Prakasam, Kala Venkata Rao and Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, were in the forefront of electoral politics. Subsequently, Reddys, Kammas and Kshatriyas became the dominant castes. Leaderships shifted from the urban to the rural elite. After the 1969 split in the Congress party the backward classes and other weaker sections became a new force to reckon with in elections. To satisfy their political aspirations, greater and greater representation was given to them both in the legislature and the council of ministers. Political leadership still lies with the dominant castes like Reddys, Kammas, Kshatriyas and Kapus. But the support base of the Congress(I) has shifted to the backward castes. Older vote banks have lost much of their effectiveness today and the urban elite and the members of the forward castes at best act as agencies to influence the mind of the members of the backward communities.

The Telugu Desam candidates were among the first to file their nomination papers. This Party had chosen their candidates quite carefully.

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One hundered and twenty five of them are graduates, 28-post-graduates, 20 medical doctors, 8 engineers and 47 lawyers. Thus, more than 80 per cent of its candidates were highly educated persons. Their average age was 41 years as against the Congress-I's 50.

A disquieting aspect of the elections was that people were asked to vote not for parties or candidates as such, but only for Indira Gandhi or N.T. Rama Rao, (Amma or Anna) as though the whole poll was refrendum on their comparative claim or competence to rule the state27. The issues on which elections were fought were mainly emotional in character. Mrs Gandhi's spoke of the divisive and regional forces that had weakened the nation. She further claimed that the Congress(I) alone could safeguard the integrity of the country and ensure its development She called upon the voters to vote and support the Congress(I) in order to enable it to execute speedily the programmes for the eradication of poverty. She also criticised the emergence of the regional parties led by inexperienced people, whose career was devoted to something else. As for N.T. Rama Rao, criticising the Congress-(I) he pointed out that thirty-five years of the Congress rule had reduced the people to a state of subjugation. He gave the slogan: "Congress(I) - quit AP.". He tried to expose the Congress(I) by referring to rampant corruption and continued central interference. He asked the voters to make a choice between freedom and slavery28.

Election Results

As anticipated, the Congress(I) was badly routed in elections. The Telugu Desam scored a landside victory by caputring 202 seats out of the total number of 294 in the State Assembly. The Congress(I) could get only 60 seats while the Congress(S) and Janata won one seat each, the BJP 3, the CPM and the Majlis 5 each. The CPI could win 4 seats while the Lok Dal was completely wiped out.

Polling had been generally peaceful, barring a few stray incidents. A record number of 2,14,96,754 voters cast their votes; roughly, seven out of every ten voters exercised their franchise. Of them Telugu Desam polled as many as 96,23,367 and bagged 199 seats. The share of the Con-gress(I)'s slumped to its lowest in the decade. The party got 70,62,792 votes as against 79,08,221 in 1978 and 74,74,225 in 1972. Gloom descended on the Party. Ironically, it was also routed in Karnataka.

Some of the stalwarts who lost in the Assembly elections were the Congress-I leaders. Most of them were either ministers, or chairmen of corporations or members of Zilla Parishads. The prominent among them

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were, D. Kondiiah Chowdary, Ch. Hanumaiah, K.Krishna Reddy, N. Janardhan Reddy, M.A.Aziz, K.Prabhakar Rao, C.Dass, A.Veerappa, Ch.Venkata Rao, P.Venkata Rao, N.Amarnatha Reddy, K.Keshav Rao, N.Chandrababu Naidu* (Son-in-law of NTR), C.Nageswar Rao, R.Ve-manna, K.Ranga Rao, Y.Venkata Rao, TXakshmi Kantamma, N.Vijay-alakshi, D.Indira, B.Sree Ram Murthy, I.Rama Krishna Raju. The lucky few who managed to win on the Congress-I ticket were T. Anjaiah, M.Baga Reddy, Madan Mohan, P.Govardhan Reddy, M.Manikya Rao, D.Munswamy, KPapaiah, Y.S. Rjasekhar Reddy, Ravindra Nath, K.E. Krishna Murthy, and S.Sidda Reddy. The Cong.(I) candidates won mostly in Telangana. The Janata Party leader, S.Jaipal Reddy, was the sole survivor from that Party while Venkaiah Naidu, the BJP leader won by a comfortable majority. The prominent opposition leaders who lost were the Lok Dal leader, Gouthu Latchanna, and the CPI leader C. Rajeswar Rao. Some Stalwarts also lost while contesting on the Telugu Desam ticket. The most prominent among them was B. Ranta Sabhapati.**

The first legislature party meeting of the TDP was held on 7th January where N.T. Ramma Rao was unanimously elected the leader. His name was proposed by N. Srinivasulu Reddy and seconded by N. Bhas-kara Rao.*** The new leader administered a pledge to all the MLA's. Thereafter, he formed the ministry.

Thus over one-third of the total electorate favoured N.T. Rama Rao and Telugu Desam candidates and all other parties put togehter could not manage so many votes collectively. This clearly indicates that the voters were all in all for Telugu Desam only.

Analysing the occupational background of the legislators, it is found that a majority of them both in the Congress(I) and the TDP were agriculturists. There was higher percentage of lawyers in the Congress legislative party as compared to the Telugu Desam party. There are more doctors in the TDP than in the Congress(I). Significantly, for the first time traders had a larger representation in the ruling party. (See table-2 for details). The fact that there is a higher representation of the professionals, especially the doctors, reflects the growing interest of professionals in local and regional politics instead

* Later he became very powerful leader of the TDP

** Later he joined the Cabinet of NTR

*** He became Chief Minister for one month, at the instance of Ram Lal, the then Governor and deposed N.T.R. as he lost the majority in the Assembly, for details, see, V.Bhaskara Rao "a Ram Lal - The Governor" Parliamentary Demorcracy in India, (Mitul, New Delhi, 1987.)

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of remaining a political. It may further be added that the Telugu Desam is a new party, but very few of its members are defectors from other parties and many lack political experience.

Conclusion

One of the most important achievements of the TDP has been that it could strike a balance between various caste groups with emphasis on backward classes in the State. A relatively younger age-group of the legislators has taken the reigns of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Unlike the Congress legislative party in 1978, it depended more on the educated politicians than on political experience alone. The TDP Legislators lack previous political experience and have limited connections with the co-operative movement, cultural and welfare organisations. This is because of their relatively fresh entry into politics and public life in comparison to the veteran Congressmen. This lack of political experience among members of the TDP was an electoral asset in the sense that, unlike the Congress legislators, they had not yet learnt the 'art of politicking' by associating themselves with cooperatives and such other public organisations. It is perhaps for this reason that the people voted for a younger set of better educated candidates with relatively clean records. At that moment "clean records" seemed mostly a matter of political inexperience.

The election result also attest that decentralisation of power, local action and local expression are likely to find acceptance with the people. The emergence of Telugu Desam was an impetus to the formation of regional parties in other states with a bid for power. But such parties must first shed the trappings of secession, communalism, and linguistic chauvinism.

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TABLE - 1

(A) Educational Qualifications of Telugu Desam Candidates in 1983 Assembly Elections

Level of Education Frequency % Total

Post-graduates 28 10.00

Graduates 125 43.00

Intermediate 33 11.50

S.S.C. 61 21.25

Below S.S.C. 26 9.00

Hindi Pandits 2 0.70

Telugu Pandits 1 0.35

Law Diploma 1 0.35

Engg. Diploma 1 0.35

Not known 10 3.50

Total 288 100.00

(B) Age Details

30 years or below 33 11.50

31 years to 35 68 23.25

36 years to 40 55 19.05

41 years to 50 80 28.00

51 years to 60 40 14.00

61 years to 70 5 1.75

Above 70 years 1 0.35

Not known 6 2.10

Total 288 100.00

SOURCE : Telugu Desam Party Office, Hyderabad

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TABLE – 2

Occupation of the Legislators of the Ruling Parties -1978 and 1983

Party

OCCUPATION Congress 1978 N = 251 Telugu Desam 1983 N = 197

Agriculturists 139 (55.4) 85 (43.1)

Lawyers 35 (14) 25 (12.7)

Doctors 10 (4) 12 (6.1)

Traders 11 (4.4) 18 (9.1)

Teachers 1 (4) 6 (3)

Government servants -- 4 (2)

Others 4 (1.6) 8 (4.1)

N.A. 51 (20.1) 39 (19.8)

Total 251 (100) 197 (100)

Note: (Figures in brackets are percentages).

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TABLE – 3

Caste-wise Break-up of the Telugu Desam and Congress(I) Contestants in 1983 Assembly Election

Total No. of Telugu Desam Candidates Total No. of Congress (I) Candidates

Caste (1) Category wise (2) Caste-wise (3) Category wise (4) Caste-wise (5)

A. Upper castes 152 181

1. Reddy 65 73

2. Kamma 54 57

3. Kshatriya 13 30

4. Velama 5 6

5. Brahmins 3 11

6. Vysya 7 4

B. Weaker Sections 128 81

a) Backward class

1. Kapa 26

2. Velama(BC) 10

3. Gouda 9

4. Yadava 6

5. Kalinga 3 53

6. Mudiraja 3

7. Padmasali 2

8. Agnikula Kshatirya 2

9. Kurma 2

10. Balija 1

*11. Others 9

b) Scheduled Castes 40 22

c) Scheduled Tribes 15 6

C. Minorities 8 31

1. Christian 2 12

2. Muslim 6 12

D. Not known — 19

Total: 288 293

* Others = Patkara Kshatriya-2, Gavona-1, Fain-1, Chattada Vaishnava-1, Bhavasara Kshatriya-1, Kayasta-1, Rajput-1. Source: Collected from Telugu Desam Party Office and from Congress(I) Office in Hyderabad.

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NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. The Presant struggle was led by communist party controlled Andhra Mahasabha, demanding own language, civil liberty and an end to feudal oppression.

2. The C.P.I. captured 15 seats in the house of 196.

3. The communists got 60 seats in the Assembly in 1962 elections.

4. This was the understanding in the Gentleman's agreement which was signed before the formation of the state.

5. Sanjeeva Reddy called the post of Deputy Chief Minister as the sixth finger.

6. Both the CPI and CPI (M) characterised this agitation in that light.

7. K. Seshadri, "The Rise and Fall of Telangana Praja Samiti - A case study." in 'Indian Political Parties: programmes, promises and performance, (The Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies, New Delhi, p. 308.)

8. The Congress candidates who lost the election included Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, B. Gopal Reddy and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy.

9. "Dissidents as Opposition", Link - April 27, 1980, p. 19.

10. Dr M. Chenna Reddy in March 1978, T. Anjaiah October 11,1980,B.Ven-katram February 24, 1982, K. Vijayabhaskara Reddy, September 20, 1982.

11. The Hindu, September 21, 1982 p. 1.

12. Gouthu Latchana, The State Lok Dal Chief's statement was reported in The Hindu. September 21, 1982, p. 2.

13. Rajiv Gandhi publicly expressed his unhappiness over Chief Minister's style of functioning when T. Anjaiah went to receive him at the Begumpet airport on February 2, 1982.

14. Conclusions arrived at with interviews from nearly 50 Congress-I MLA's by V. Hanumantha Rao in Party Politics in AP. 1956-83, (ABA Publications, Hyderabad, 1983.) p. 289.

15. Quoted in Sunday. Volume 9, Issue 46, 2-8 May 1982, p. 12.

16. NTR travelled for 18 to 20 hours a day in his election campaign. His inflammatory speeches were recorded and produced on several thousand cassette tapes.

17. India Today. 30 April, 1983, p. 57.

18. India Today. 30 April, 1983, p. 55.

19. G.S. Bhargava, 'The Vote Banks that misled Congress (I)" in The Indian Express. (Vijayawada.) 8 January, 1983, P. 5.

20. Ibid.

21. The Hindu, (Hyderabad,) 2 December, 1981, P. 1.

22. The Hindu, (Hyderabad,) 5 December, 1982. P. 1. The new alliance shared the seats, as follows: CPI-52, Lok Dal-66, Janata-43, CPI(M)-29, Independent-1 and Republican party-6.

23. N.T. Rama Rao was prepared to give only 60 seats to both the Communist parties while the latter claimed 70 seats. The Hindu, (Hyderabad.) 4 December, 1982, P. 1.

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24. The Hindu, (Madras). 12 December, 1982, P. 1.

25. India Today, 15 January 1983, P. 24.