Is Naidu losing grip over the party?

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's decision not to take any disciplinary action against Telugu film star and Rajya Sabha member Mohan Babu has been grist to the rumour-mongers's mill.

Was Naidu afraid of taking action against the film star because he was losing his grip over the party’s rank and file? Was the chief minister scared that the actor would make things difficult for him on his home turf (both hail from Chittoor district)?

As detractors spread such rumours, senior party functionaries are upset that Naidu has let the actor go scot-free. A cabinet colleague of Naidu said, ''By not expelling the actor, the leadership has opened the floodgates of indiscipline. I am afraid the Congress culture is catching up with our party activists.”

The source was equally aghast that no disciplinary action was taken against two other leaders -- Union Minister of State for Health Renuka Choudhary who called film star and Rajya Sabha member Jayaprada a ‘bimbo’, and former member of Parliament Palakonda Rayudu who disturbed a minister's public meeting in Cuddapah.

Explaining Naidu's viewpoint, a staunch supporter said, ''The chief minister is not a confrontationist. He prefers to wait for an opportunity to show the errant members their place in the Telugu Desam.”

The supporter has a point. Remember how Naidu betrayed his father-in-law, then chief minister N T Rama Rao, after swallowing all the insults heaped on him? Even when Naidu was sacked as TDP general secretary, he did not retaliate immediately. He waited for the right opportunity to hit back, which came in August 1995 when he led a palace coup against NTR.

However, it is doubtful if the chief minister can do the same with Mohan Babu as the actor seems to enjoy considerable hold over Naidu's business establishments.

The film star himself claimed, ''I helped Naidu start Heritage Foods, when he was an ordinary legislator.”

Mohan Babu also said that but for his help Minor Irrigation Minister B Gopalakrishna Reddy, who is said to have added fuel to the Tirupati episode, would have lost his Srikalahasty seat in Chittoor district in the November 1994 assembly poll.

Whatever the reasons, the chief minister's reluctance to take firm action against errant colleagues may cost him dear in the long run, when indiscipline and dissidence plague the party.