HT Archive: Naidu ousts NTR, takes over as CM in Andhra family coup

THe endure hebdomad of aug 1995 saw unprecedented political dramatic event in Hyderabad that push up a hitherto low-profile N Chandrababu Naidu into the national spotlight as he replaced his father-in-law and Telugu Desam Party founder NT Rama Rao as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in a family coup.Hindustan Times chronicled the developments that culminated with an August 26, 1995 report on the late-night confirmation by the then Andhra Pradesh Assembly speaker Y Ramakrishnudu that Naidu had the support of 163 MLAs of the TDP in the 294-member assembly. This would pave the way for Naidu to be sworn in as chief minister, the HT report said.A day earlier, HT reported that over 152 MLAs under the leadership of Naidu, then state revenue and finance minister, met at a 3-star hotel in Hyderabad on August 24 and passed a resolution asking the State Governor not to honour a request from Rama Rao to dissolve the Assembly. For two days, the Viceroy hotel on Tank Bund Road would hold centerstage in the drama.Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as NTR, was a matinee idol-turned politician who became the first non-Congress chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1983 after founding the TDP in March the year before. The main trigger for the revolt against him was the growing role of his second wife, Lakshmi Parvathi, in governmental and party affairs.Naidu first became an MLA at the age of 28 in 1978 on a Congress ticket and was minister from 1980 to 1982; he switched to the TDP after his father-in-law founded the party.In its August 25 report, HT detailed the efforts to reconcile the differences of the two sides. Naidu, who married NTR’s daughter Bhuvaneshwari in 1981, and six of his brothers-in-law had met NTR but the talks failed. HT reported that NTR rejected multiple demands that sought to curtail Lakshmi Parvathi’s role, saying that his wife was not inferior to anyone in the party.Naidu then joined his supporters and moved to the hotel to chalk out a strategy.By then, most of NTR’s own family had turned against him. Besides NTR’s sons, Naidu’s faction had the backing of Daggubati Venkakateswara Rao, the TDP Parliamentary Party leader and another son-in-law of NTR, HT reported. Assembly speaker Y. Ramakrishnudu and a majority of the 31 ministers in the NTR cabinet were also with Naidu.The following day the rebels submitted a memorandum to Governor Krishna Kant backing Naidu as the new Legislative Party leader.NTR would not go without a fight. As a politician known for grandiose, theatrical gestures, he deployed tactics that had served him well in the past. After urging the governor to dissolve the assembly, NTR dusted off his famed “Chaitanya Ratham”, a refurbished Chevrolet van that he had used in his campaign to sweep to power in 1983.Accompanied by Laxmi Parvathi and the ministers who still remained loyal to him, NTR launched a “Save Democracy Campaign” in the streets of Hyderabad, reminiscent of his efforts that restored him to power after an earlier Congress-backed coup against him in 1984 by his then finance minister N. Bhaskara Rao.NTR’s campaign and the crowds it attracted blocked city streets, HT reported. After stops in front of the Raj Bhavan and Secretariat, he descended on the Viceroy Hotel. Parking his “Ratham” in front of the hotel, NTR held a one-and-a-half-hour long dharna, claiming he was backstabbed by his partymen and made fervent appeals for their return to his fold. NTR asked the huge posse of policemen present at the hotel to secure the ‘release’ of his MLAs, who he said were being held ‘hostage’ by the Naidu group.There was some tension after some Naidu supporters hurled chappals at the Chaitanya Ratham which almost hit Lakshmi Parvathi. The police resorted to a lathi-charge to separate the clashing groups. NTR called off his dharna and soon left, HT reported.Ramakrishnudu arrived in Hyderabad in the evening in a special helicopter and was tasked by the governor to determine the legislative support for Naidu.With this support confirmed, Naidu would be sworn in as chief minister on September 1. His Cabinet included N. Harikrishna, one of NTR’s sons and the ceremony was attended by multiple generations of NTR’s family.Later on September 7, Naidu would win a vote of confidence in the assembly, with the additional support of Left parties and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM). MLAs supporting NTR disrupted proceedings demanding he speak first; 28 were suspended.Naidu would go on to become the state’s longest-serving chief minister, a post he currently occupies. NTR died in January the following year, days after giving an interview in which he laid out his plans for a return to power that would lead to the downfall of “the backstabbers” who had ousted him from power.