It has been exactly one year since Telugu Desam Party supremo Chandrababu Naidu was arrested by YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s government on Monday! He was arrested by the Nandyala police in the early hours of September 9 last year in an illegal case of skill development. On the 11th, he was shifted to Rajamahendravaram Jail.
He was released on bail after spending 53 days in jail. He developed many health problems in prison. The leaders of his party had to fight hard even to install AC in his room. The High Court granted bail to him on the grounds that he could not present strong evidence in this case along with health reasons.
This is the first time that Chandrababu spent time in jail in his more than four decades political career. Many YCP leaders later admitted that this arrest was the main reason that led to disastrous defeat for the party in the polls last May. The YCP, which was already on the way to collapse, fell even faster and was confined to only 11 seats in the assembly elections.
This arrest paved the way for intense mass contacts for the TDP leadership, besides mobilizing forces that were suppressed, harassed and humiliated behind it, during five years of anarchistic regime.
The YCP leadership thought that the arrest of Chandrababu would help to demoralize TDP supporters and unable to face elections with all its might. But the end result was different. This arrest led to sympathy for Chandrababu among the common people. On the day of his release from jail, while he was coming to Vijayawada by road, thousands of people waited along the road to welcome him.
His arrest has also sparked massive protests in neighboring states like Telangana and Karnataka. An attempt by the then BRS government to suppress the protests in Hyderabad led to TDP sympathizers en masse supporting the Congress party in the subsequent elections there. With this BRS suffered defeat and Congress came to power.
Protests against the arrest of Chandrababu were also held in all the countries where Telugu people have settled around the world. It is estimated that demonstrations were held in 80 cities in America alone.
Chandrababu’s arrest led to many key political developments. Jana Sena party president Pawan Kalyan visited Chandrababu in Rajamahendravaram jail and announced that he and TDP will contest together. After that BJP was also forced to join hands with these parties to form an NDA alliance in the state.
The YCP, which had hoped that the BJP would be neutral, was left disappointed. A year after the arrest today Chandrababu is in the crowd. Whereas Jaganmohan Reddy was confined to isolation in his palaces, besides moving courts here and there.