Often, AP CM Chandrababu Naidu brags about how he played and continues to play a bigger role at the national level. This is matter of prestige for his fans and at the same time for his critics, they see this as his publicity mania and unnecessary hype which they feel is part of his persona.
But as NDA convenor, Chandrababu created no mean achievements in the year 2002. The first half of 2002 was uneventful for Vajpayee administration with anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat and Vajpayee was looking for a way out to reach out to Muslims and Naidu helped PM with this exercise.
Naidu reportedly choose Abdul Kalam
Then came the presidential elections in June and Vajpayee reportedly proposed a list of three prominent Muslims in India and Naidu reportedly choose Abdul Kalam with no second thoughts. Kalam conveyed to PM that he may not be the right choice as it involves political measures and decisions.
Sources say that Chandrababu had personally convinced Kalam to take up the role and he used his good offices in Congress to even make Sonia Gandhi accept his candidature for the presidency. The rest is history as Kalam became India’s first ‘people’s president’ contrary to what is usually expected of the ceremonial post.
