Chandra Babu Naidy, PM of India, (From Deccan Chronicle)

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Babu to replace Gowda
In a dramatic turn of events late on Monday night, UF reached a
consensus to replace Mr Deve Gowda with AP Chief Minister
Chandrababu Naidu, as the Prime Minister 

Mr Deve Gowda was persuaded to tender his resignation in the
larger interest of the Front by the Left partners. According to news
reaching here late in the night, all 14 partners of the United Front
coalition welcomed the consensus over Mr Naidu?s candidature for
the post of the Prime Minister. The steering committee will meet
again on Tuesday to chalk out a strategy in Parliament in the wake of
new developments. 

Mr Deve Gowda is expected to submit his resignation to the
President anytime on Tuesday paving the way for Mr Naidu to don
the mantle. The change is to be effected before 11 April, so that it is
the Naidu government that faces the vote of confidence. 

Veteran CPM leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mr Jyoti Basu
who mooted the idea of installing another Telegu bidda as the Prime
Minister rushed to Delhi on hearing that Mr Gowda had agreed to
step down in favour of Mr Naidu. 

The Left wants to effectively stymie all chances of the Congress
coming to power through the backdoor with Moopanar as the leader.
Mr A B Bardhan (CPI) said that the situation precipitated by Mr
Kesri should not be allowed to be exploited by political opportunists.
Though Mr Moopanar has repeatedly said that he would not align
with the Congress, his statement that a mid-term poll is undesirable
has political pundits reading between the lines. It is feared that Mr
Moopanar may merge his stake with his parent party. 

Mr Naidu too is an ex-Congressman but his strong Congress
antipathy apparently sounds reassuring. Also, as the steering
committee convenor of the United Front, which was essentially Mr
Naidu?s brainchild, his candidature has not met with any resistance
from the Yadavs ? Laloo Prasad and Mulayam Singh. 

The man most taken aback by the turn of events appears to be Mr
Naidu himself. He certainly did not expect to be catapulted as leader
of the nation within such a short span of time as the leader of a
regional party. The youthful Naidu would turn 46 on April 20. He will
be the second leader to become Prime Minister at such a young age.
The first being Mr Rajiv Gandhi. 

Completely non-committal, Mr Naidu is said to be confabulating
with all the leaders of the UF to work out a strategy to save the
government at any cost. Sources close to him say that he is delighted
at being asked to take up the the key role. The Telugu Desam MPs,
including the four Union Ministers, Mr K Yerran Naidu, Dr S
Venugopalachary, Dr Ummareddy Venkateswarlu and Dr B B
Ramaiah, are elated at the prospect of Mr Naidu becoming the
Prime Minister. 

It is true that relations between the Prime Minister and Mr
Chandrababu Naidu have been strained over the vexed Almatti dam
issue, but both of them have been asked to put the Almatti issue on
hold and present a truly united front to face the present challenge to
the coalition. 

Meanwhile, the line-up of the United Front constituents shows that
the regional parties account for a bulk of the seats. The Tamil
Maanila Congress tops among the regional parties with its strength
of 20 members in the Lok Sabha, followed by Telegu Desam,
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Samajwadi Party with 17 each,
Asom Gana Parishad with five members. Comparatively, the Janata
Dal has only 44 members. The strength of the Left parties includes
CPM (32), CPI (13), RSP (5) and Forward Bloc (3). 

Reportedly, the BSP with 10 seats and the Shiv Sena, which enjoys a
good rapport with Mr Naidu, with 15 seats are not averse to
supporting Mr Naidu. All this only adds up to 205 seats in a House of
543 but the UF apparently has worked out a deal with the anti-Kesri
lobby that they will either vote actively for Mr Naidu or abstain from
voting to help him ascend the throne. 

Meanwhile, in Hyderabad the party leaders though elated at the turn
of events are eying the Chief Minister?s gaddi that will fall vacant
once Mr Naidu takes charge as the Prime Minister. The leaders in
reckoning are State Minister for Finance Mr Ashok Gajapathi Raju
and Home Minister Mr Madhav Reddy. Though neither of them
were available for comment. 

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