Chandrababu Naidu today, addressing pensioners, said that his style of functioning will be strict for the next five years. He said that CBN 4.0 is going to be more like CBN 1.0. "You will see the kind of attitude you saw in me when I first became the CM in 1995," the CM said sternly. The TDP supremo added that even Ministers and MLAs won't be spared if they are found to be casual.
Naidu, from 1995 to early 2000s, was a tough administrator for sure. Review meetings, video conferences and sudden inspections of government hospitals, etc, used to keep everyone on their toes. It is not known how much of it really translated into quality services for the public. The TDP lost badly in 2004 because the dissatisfaction among voters was high.
When he returned to power in 2014, Naidu did say something similar. He said that he would be cracking the whip on indisciplined government servants. But he could barely walk the talk. In 2016, CBN said that he would not let others sleep until his targets were achieved. In 2019, it was clear that public anger was exceptional against him.
CBN might speak as though he were a Maths teacher warning school kids after Summer vacation but mere talk won't make for good governance. He can do whatever it takes to discipline government servants but voter satisfaction levels seem to be a different ball game altogether.
