Andhra Pradesh chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu's recent comment that he belongs to the community of the poor is both comical and untrue. This is not the first time that Chandrababu has made such an illogical statement. Does he mean that he, who has been cited as the richest chief minister in the country, is poor? If that was his intention, it is indeed a cruel joke on the poverty-stricken people of the state in particular and the country, in general. In fact, Chandrababu Naidu has been the target of criticism for the past few decades for having amassed wealth coming from a very modest background.

As regards the other sense in which he could have made this statement that he belongs to the poor Kamma caste, nothing can be farther from the truth. Chandrababu belongs to perhaps, the wealthiest community in Andhra Pradesh, which not only bankrolls the movie industry, controls real estate, but has a range of powerful industry and business interests. The Kammas, therefore, are anything but poor, as is widely known.

Either way, Chandrababu Naidu has made logic stand on its head yet again. Individually, he is certainly not poor, as the world knows. If he calls himself poor or needy, what is a daily wage labourer, an unemployed person, anyone from the most deprived sections of society supposed to call himself? If he means he belongs to a community that is impoverished, that would be another cruel, tragic joke.

If the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister tries to explain it away as his commitment to the poor which gives him a sense of belonging, that again, is far from reality. The TDP regime has come in for criticism, as no other previous government in the state has, for unprecedented corruption and nepotism.

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