The Hindu Business Line : Can a CM be a CEO too?

CAN a chief minister in India wear the hat of a CEO of the State carry the day? The answer seems to be an emphatic no going by the verdict of the people of Andhra Pradesh.

Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, during his record-breaking, nine-year stint as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, prided himself as the CEO of the State, and often it went well with the industry, which perceived him as the poster boy of reforms. But at the hustings, the final test of a politician's performance, the image has indeed taken a beating.

The tech-savvy CEO rubbing shoulders with industry leaders and jet-setting to get top multinational corporations to invest in the State, has not been able to convince the people who see him as merely paying lip service to their real problems of water, power, health, literacy.

Whether it was at the meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos or while addressing self help groups (SHGs) in a rural setting, Mr Naidu brought in the trappings of corporate thinking into his style of functioning. His trademark laptop presentations and "come to Hyderabad'' we will give you a red-carpet welcome and remove bureaucratic hurdles brought appreciation of businessmen from across the country and even the world. But the common people seem to be unimpressed. Not that his new CEO style did not bring in results. Hyderabad, indeed is an example of change.

In terms of cleanliness, street lighting, power management, computerised services to simplify daily drudgery, air connectivity with the world, multi-modal transport system... The list is quite impressive.

While industry chambers, the IT sector and foreign companies looked up to his governance style and quick decision-making as very positive, compared to many other chief ministers, the rural people of Andhra Pradesh thought he was neglecting their lot. His evaluation systems to measure performance of government employees tended to bring a new administrative work style but, somehow, it needed more time for a change in the mindset of the working class.

The "Poster boy of the World Bank'' and the most bullish pro-reform leaders in the country seemed to have misread the writing on the wall. He tried to re-create a Singapore in Hyderabad, convince the people that the funding from the Bank and the foreign direct investments would bring in a sea-change in the urban and rural landscape of the State.

At the grassroots, the common man grappling with more mundane survival issues got more of the shocks of the reforms process and not the fruits as promised. Drought for four years and not many private power projects taking off only added to his woes.

A successful CEO has to reach all his employees and in the corporate world, often, these are people chosen by the company. Similarly, he has to understand his market and target audience.

In the case of a chief minister, the challenge is immensely more diverse and difficult, given the rising aspirations of people as, perhaps, Mr Chandrababu Naidu found out to his utter surprise in the defeat of his performance.

M. Somasekhar

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