It has been quite some time one has heard about former IAS officer-turned-politician and Lok Satta Party founder Dr Jayaprakash Narayan a.k.a JP.
He is often considered to be an intellectual among politicians; yet, he could not get rid of his caste brand when he contested the 2009 assembly elections from Kukatpalli and won the seat.
He was one of the strong opponents of the bifurcation of Telangana state and had even incurred the wrath of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now, Bharat Rashtra Samithi or BRS) those days. Finally, he lost the assembly elections in 2014 and subsequently faded out of active politics.
Since then, he has been confined to his social trust activities, trying to create political and social awareness among the people. But of late, he has been displaying strange political thinking in both the Telugu states, extending support to the ruling parties.
In Andhra Pradesh, JP has extended support to the decentralisation exercise of YSR Congress party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Though initially he extended support to Amaravati when Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu was in power, he changed his tune and supported the three capitals plan of Jagan, after the latter came to power.
He also appreciated the new pension scheme of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government and also its latest initiatives in the health sector.
In Telangana, too, JP has started appreciating the administration of Bharat Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, though he had strongly opposed the Telangana formation and the TRS ideology. He was all praise for Dalit Bandhu scheme, describing it as the best in the country.
In the same breath, the Lok Satta chief has been attacking the Congress party, saying that the grand old party would do anything for the sake of power and push the state into the state of bankruptcy.
Maybe, the BRS, too, has been engaging JP to attract the votes of Andhra settlers. But one wonders this changed stance of JP will fetch any mileage to the BRS. In any case, JP has lost his credibility by taking U-turns on his ideology.
JP might have thought there is no use in pampering Chandrababu Naidu or supporting him in this hour of crisis. But one won’t be surprised if JP changes his stand once again if Naidu comes to power. He has his wild card entry in the form of caste!
