Yerran Naidu—A down-to-earth politician

  Yerran Naidu, who died in a road accident in the wee hours of Friday, was the most prominent face of the TDP in the national scene.

It must be said to his credit that he highlighted many problems related to poor farmers and others in the backward regions of his native Srikakulam district in the Parliament.
Naidu, who came from a very modest background from the backwaters of Srikakulam was an earthy politician. He was one of those politicians from the TDP who understood many of the real problems that farmers and the common masses were faced with in backward regions, considering the fact that he himself hailed from such background and hence could relate to such issues.
That he was a Lok Sabha member for 4 terms is no mean achievement and speaks eloquently of his popularity among his constituents. He was also a member of the State Assembly for as many terms in his three-decade long career. This again is a reflection of how rooted he was among the people of his constituency.
It was widely known that everybody had access to Yerran Naidu. This increasingly is a very rare attribute among politicians in today's age and times.
55-year-old Naidu went up the political ladder rung by rung, starting at the bottom. He joined the TDP at the time the party was launched by NT Rama Rao back in 1982. Prior to that, Naidu was a popular student leader at the Andhra University in Vizag where the seeds of his leadership qualities were sown in him by his seniors in college.
After he jumped onto the Telugu Desam bandwagon, he sought from NTR and managed to get a ticket to the State Assembly from Harishchandra Puram in Srikakulam district.
After winning the seat, he contested again in 1985 and retained his seat. Naidu developed certain differences with NTR and was denied a TDP ticket in the 1989 Assembly elections which he fought and won as an independent. This event marks a milestone in his career because it proved that he could win on his own steam. And for him, it was a measure of the extent to which he could bond with the people of his constituency. He contested on a Telugu Desam ticket in 1994 after he returned to the party and when Chandrababu Naidu split the party, leading a rebellion against NTR, Yerran Naidu backed Chandrababu. For this demonstration of loyalty, he was rewarded with the position of the Chief whip of the government.
Yerran Naidu was fielded by the Telugu Desam to the Lok Sabha in 1996 from the Srikakulam constituency. To his credit, Yerran Naidu won the election convincingly and became an important player on the national political field, when the TDP decided to join the United Front government at the Centre. He became a minister at the Centre and was given the portfolio of Rural Development and Employment. He won the seat again in 1998-99 elections and luckily escaped an assassination attempt made on him by Maoists in the Srikakulam district.
He became the voice of the TDP in the Lok Sabha and was elected its party leader, a position he held till he was trounced by K Krupa Rani, who was inducted into the Union Cabinet last Sunday.
Naidu used to articulate the stand of the TDP vociferously in the Lok Sabha and will be remembered for his active participation in almost every single debate that took place in the Lower House during his long stint there. He will be missed as a politician who demonstrated undying loyalty for his party, which itself is a very rare trait among politicians today.
-Reshmi@Sakshipost