Straight Answers

N Sivaprasad, Telugu Desam spokesman,On his role as TDP spokesperson:The spokesman of apolitical party is like a punching bag. He has to take blows from every quarterand yet keep his cool. He is always the easytarget.Very rarely. He is my guiding star. Many do not know we wereclassmates in school. When I was dropped from the council of ministers andappointed party spokesman, he told me to keep all sections of the partytogether. I am learning to, the hardway.Well if some major development takes place, the presswants instant reaction even before I can get a party line from my leader. If Idon''t oblige, I am dubbed ineffective. If I open my mouth, I stand the risk ofinviting the wrath of the CM. Similarly, I am responsible for bringing out theparty magazine. The members on the editorial board rarely attend the meeting todecide on the content and later crib they were not informed. People from myconstituency have high expectations and feel that I could get anything donebecause of my proximity to the party president both as spokesperson and MLA. Ihave to do a tight ropewalk to be accessible to all and dojustice.TDP magazine is a fortnightly newsmagazine.We spend about Rs one lakh per month. The highlight of the magazine isthat the party president N Chandrababu Naidu writes the editorial. There isgreater amount of professionalism that goes into bringing itout.TD is not a party,which ignores anyone. The list ofmemberships needing renewal has been given to workers. May be she was not therewhen they went to her. There is no question of ignoring her.