Hyderabad, Aug 18 :
‘‘Old order changes yielding place to the new.’’ This Romantic English adage need not always hold true in Indian political waters, recollects Chief Minister Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy while turning a leaf out of his personal life way back in 1983.
The Chief Minister reeled out this interesting incident from his formative years in politics while Andhra Pradesh was under Telugu Desam rule headed by the late N.T.Rama Rao. The Congress party, then was in disarray after the TDP deposed the party out of power for the first time with the elders at the helm of affairs not letting in the youngsters to grow or have a say.
YSR was in his 30s when he had a chance meeting with Rajiv Gandhi in the company of his mother and then Prime Minister Ms Indira Gandhi. Though young and dynamic, Rajiv was only a political associate of Indira Gandhi and was still grooming his lessons in statecraft. Rajiv had exchanged a few pleasantries with YSR then.
The next time around, when YSR met Rajiv, he sought to know what was cooking in Andhra Pradesh. It was YSR, who gave the younger Gandhi a brief outline of what was eating the state Congress and how the youth in the party felt suffocated under the tyranny of the old guard that lacked drive.
Witty Rajiv was quick to grasp what was going on in Rajasekhara Reddy’s mind. It was a ‘secret’, felt YSR, that changed the course of his political thinking. Rajiv is reported to have assuaged YSR saying thus:
``You might have seen the rivers Godavari and Krishna that take along new waters in the monsoons. Flowing with great force, the new waters swiftly push the old waters into the sea…the same thing happens in politics. The emerging young, dynamic, committed and credible leaders will automatically push the irritating old leaders aside from the party hierarchy…’’
``I felt rejuvenated. Rajivji smiled. The event left an indelible imprint on my political career,’’ says the August issue of Andhra Pradesh journal aptly quoting the Chief Minister in the light of the Sadbhavana Divas, the nation is due to observe on August 20.
Andhra Pradesh journal, a no man’s child till a couple of years ago, has steadily begun building up readership. With the latest issue of the magazine focusing the YSR’s story and such other interesting features as its content is sure fire to catch many a thousand readers.