Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu has said that he always wanted political power to serve people and not for himself.
“I never said I do not want power”, he remarked at a meeting to release a book on his 208-day padayatra, which was chronicled by a reporter of a Telugu TV channel, Srinivas.
Mr. Naidu also said he was always of the view that political power was never permanent in one’s hands. But, an individual’s deeds remained permanent. Hence, he craved to serve people. It was in this context that he and his party mobilised Rs.2 crore to help the flood victims of Uttarakhand recently.
He also said the Prime Ministership came his way twice during the tenure of United Front from no less than bigwigs in politics at that time such as Jyoti Basu, G.K. Moopanar and others. But, he declined it politely the first time and warned them on the second occasion that he would not even visit New Delhi if they persisted with the demand. It was then that the leaders left it to him to choose the Prime Minister when the mantle fell on I.K. Gujral.
He added that the TDP played a big role in the appointment of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as the President.
Senior journalists K. Srinivas Reddy, S. Ramachandra Murthy and V. Vasudeva Deekshitulu also spoke.
Mr. Reddy said there was no meaning if political parties did not aspire for power. Mr. Ramachandra Murthy said some of the non-Congress and non-BJP Chief Ministers did not have it in them to focus on national politics. But, Mr. Naidu was capable of it.
Reviewing the book, Mr. Deekshitulu praised the author for writing history by documenting the padayatra.
