It's not politics always

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, OCT. 4. What is easier, governing or sitting in the Opposition? How about ``hastavasi''?How easy is the job of the Chief Minister?

These were just some of the questions that came to the fore at a function of ``Suprabhatam,'' a Telugu socio-political weekly organised to mark its 10th anniversary on Monday night. And those questions were raised and answered by none other than the Chief Minister, Mr.N. Chandrababu Naidu, and the Congress leader, Mr.K. Rosaiah.

The function itself was remarkably different as it brought the Chief Minister face to face with his two arch political rivals -- Mr. Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy of the CPI and Mr. Rosaiah.

When the Chairman of the A.P. Press Academy, Mr.P. Venkateswara Rao, presiding over the function, pointed out that those who struck antagonistic postures in the Assembly were together on the dais, Mr. Sudhakar Reddy was quick to point out that neither he nor his party were in the Assembly hence there was no enmity between them.

Mr. Naidu took care to address the points raised by Mr. Reddy on press freedom. Referring to the dig taken at his Government, he said he never believed in muzzling the press. ``Suprabhatam'' magazine itself was proof of it, he said asking its editor, Mr.L. Rattaiah, whether he ever did interfere with its stand.

``Mr. Rattaiah has his stand and viewpoint. I have mine. He wrote against me sometimes, but I never even spoke to him or made any reference to it. There were occasions when he praised me, I never felt elated. Because, I know he is just doing his job. No politician or political party can survive by cajoling the press or coaxing it. I never believed in it. I keep people's welfare in mind in making my policies and implementing schemes. Papers also have common public good in mind. Let all of us work together for the benefit of people,'' he added.

About his reactions to news reports everyday, he said ``My day begins early in the morning with going through the clippings given by my peshi. Afterwards the information officials feed me the gist of news. Later come reports from intelligence. I browse through all and make notes of points to be raised. Later, I have a meeting at 8 a.m. with officials and party functionaries where in I discuss the issues raised by the papers and also the criticism thereof. I seek explanations and leave instructions to the people concerned.''

Reacting to Mr. Rosaiah's claim that the print media had not lost any importance as they depended on it more to counter the claims of the Chief Minister, Mr. Naidu said,``That is the advantage if you are in the Opposition. All that you got to do is go through the papers and prepare counters and hold a press conference. But, being in the ruling party means lot more care. One has to be careful in making statements. Any variations in our claims come under minute scrutiny.'' He said he had no animosity or bred ill- will against any leader of the Opposition. ``They are doing their job, and me mine, and all of us perfectly,'' he said.

On attending the 10th anniversary celebrations, Mr. Rosaiah said,``When I was asked to inaugurate the magazine nine years ago I was hesitant initially. Was it good for me or bad? If something goes wrong with the magazine, they would blame me and my ``hastavasi.'' I am happy now that it did. So my ``hastavasi'' seems to be good.''

Mr. Naidu and Mr. Venkateswara Rao were quick to point out ``your hastavasi (Congress symbol) is really good, otherwise, you would not have been in the limelight for so long.''

More proof of Mr. Naidu's non-interference policy in media affairs came from Mr. Rattaiah who said,``There were occasions when my family members questioned my wisdom in writing against Mr. Naidu. But, the latter himself never raised the issue. In fact, when we went wrong in our pre-poll predictions we honestly admitted our mistake. Mr. Naidu was gentleman enough not to bother in pointing out anything to me.''

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Section  : Southern States
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