HJ Dora book shows NTR in good light

Retired IAS and IPS officers writing books in not new, but former DGP HJ Dora writing a book has become news not because he went for sensationalism but because he unveiled some facts which otherwise would not have been known.

In his book, ‘Ntr tho Nenu’, the former DGP has narrated many sequences during his stint with Intelligence and gave a good account of the 1984 crisis which has seen the ouster and reinstatement of Ntr as chief minister.

Dora, however, ended the book after Ntr became the chief minister for the second time in 1994 and the cabinet formation but did not venture into the second crisis the party has faced.

It is an account of an Intelligence Officer and since my term ended, I left it there, was the diplomatic reply the former super cop gives.

Some of the startling revelations, he made in the book include, was that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was not aware of the developments, or the methodology in which Ntr was dethroned by Nadendla Bhaskara Rao.  Once she came to know about it, she shifted the Governor and brought in Shankar Dayal Sharma as Governor and ensured that Ntr was reinstated.

Normally, in such a chaos President’s Rule would have been the answer, but Mrs Gandhi did it otherwise, he writes in the 25-chapter book.

The other revelation was the secret pact Ntr had with Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 after the death of Indira Gandhi. Since Rajiv, after taking over the reins following the assassination of his mother, wanted to go for a fresh mandate, Ntr also wanted a fresh mandate for the assembly and sought its dissolution. The understanding was that not to club local issues with ceNtral issues (Lok Sabha polls).

Dora also wrote about the art of intelligence gathering and showered praise on Ntr on many counts.

The cop, who was the Krishna district collector during the murder of Vangaveeti Ranga, has given a good account of many such crisis that passed by through that period.

He did not hide his affinity with Satya Sai Baba and wrote that Ntr has given his support to Baba for the drinking water scheme he started in Ananthapur district. Ntr, who has influence of Dravidian politics and left orientation to some extent, was never seen going to Puttaparthi or any other place of worship. Though Ntr hails from Krishna district, he was never seen going to Kanakadurga temple, he says.

Dora who wrote the book in Telugu may translate it to English and is also likely to follow it up with some more books of which his association with Satya Sai Baba is a good possibility.