Tale of two CMs: KCR confident of win, Chandrababu Naidu shaky after power split

HYDERABAD: Three and a half years of bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh, the two Telugu CMs are at different political crossroads. While Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is firmly ensconced in his throne and pitching for a kingmaker’s role at the Centre post-2019 elections, his counterpart N

Chandrababu Naidu

is fighting for survival.

Six months ago, the two CMs appeared to be in the same boat. Occasionally sparring on water sharing issues, they were both busy and in control of their state governments and things appeared hunky dory for both of them in the run-up to the next elections.

But the last few weeks saw Naidu and KCR take different political paths, one downhill and the other uphill.

In KCR’s case, he appears confident that the TRS will come back to power in 2019 on its own. Smug in that belief, he surprised one and all two weeks ago by announcing that he will float a federal front minus the BJP and the Congress. And within hours, he was in touch with other leaders like Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and the like. Now, he is slated to hop across the country and meet various leaders in his bid to open up a new political front.

In contrast, Naidu’s house has been witnessing a stormy battle. Upstaged by YSR Congress president Jaganmohan Reddy on the Special Category Status (SCS) issue for the last few weeks, he has been forced to up the ante with his ally BJP, which has now culminated in a cul-de-sac for him with the resignation of two TDP ministers at the Centre and that of an equal number of the BJP from the state cabinet. Naidu now, has to deal with issues on several fronts like negotiating Jagan and the BJP politically and ensuring that he has the confidence of the electorate in order to be re-elected to power. And on both these fronts, he is abit shaky.

While one chief minister is looking at sunny days ahead, the other has to brace for trying times and aim to weather them through.