King-maker Beleaguered

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Telugu Desam supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is a much more beleaguered man now as two more of his party MPs have ditched him.
Despite making some new friends in UP Chief Minister Mayawati and former Union minister Ajit Singh and reviving old friendship with former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda at the national level, Naidu is increasingly losing his own party leaders in what appears to be a calculated exodus from the TDP.
The signs are clearly turning out to be ominous for the once-king-maker who is fast losing ground on the home turf.
The trust vote in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday added two fresh candidates to the growing list of TDP deserters -- Chittoor MP D K Adikesavulu Naidu and Nagarkurnool MP Manda Jagannatham.
Both the TDP MPs -- out of the party's total five -- supported the United Progressive Alliance government as they "support the nuclear deal."
Adikesavulu Naidu and Jagannatham are expected to join the Chiranjeevi bandwagon later. Tuesday started with widespread speculation in New Delhi that Adikesavulu Naidu -- known as an "all-party man" -- will defy the TDP whip and vote in favour of the confidence motion. Jagannatham, however, turned out to be a surprise element in the eleventh hour. Chandrababu Naidu, with whom Adikesavulu Naidu has a very strong relationship, was closeted in a meeting with the latter and tried to prevail upon him not to go against the party at a time when they were trying to a build a political front at the national level.
Adikesavulu, however, was apparently not willing to buy anything and, as speculated, wanted to vot for the Manmohan Singh government. A technical glitch, however, rendered his vote invalid though Adikesavulu informed Speaker Somnath Chatterjee that he supported the confidence motion.
A known liquor baron, Adikesavulu Naidu earlier served as the treasurer of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee when Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was its president. He unsuccessfully contested the Chittoor Lok Sabha seat in 1996. In 2003, Chandrababu Naidu made him the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams chairman upon joining the TDP. In 2004 he won the Chittoor Lok Sabha on the TDP ticket.
Following the delimitation of constituencies, Chittoor has now become a reserved segment, forcing Adikesavulu to look for an alternative. Indications are that he will contest on behalf of Chiranjeevi's party from Rajampet constituency in Kadapa district, which covers some Assembly segments that are currently in Chittoor district.
Jagannatham is a Madiga leader from Mahbubnagar district and served as a state minister earlier.