Why a former Chief Minister turned against his own party in the Madras Assembly
In 1950, the Assembly faced an odd situation: a legislator, who not only belonged to the ruling party but was also a former Chief Minister, levelled allegations against some Ministers. He was Tanguturi Prakasam, who became the Premier after the 1946 Assembly election. He quit the post in March 1947 after an inner-party rebellion
The quintessential rebel: The 1952 election resulted in a hung Assembly. Prakasam tried to form a coalition of diverse parties. But the Congress outwitted him and Rajaji became the Chief Minister.
| Photo Credit: The HINDU ARCHIVES
It is normal in democratic politics for the Opposition to demand the constitution of an inquiry committee when allegations of corruption are made against Ministers. But, in 1950, the Madras Assembly faced an odd situation: a legislator, who not only belonged to the ruling party but was also a former Chief Minister, levelled allegations against some Ministers. The person in question was Tanguturi Prakasam (1869-1957), popularly known as Andhra Kesari or the Lion of Andhra. Coincidentally, his 155th birth anniversary falls on August 23.
Prakasam was not just another Congress leader. He was a versatile personality — a Barrister at Law; the editor of journals Praja Patrika (both in English and Telugu) and Law Times; a freedom fighter; and the author of a voluminous report on the abolition of zamindari while being Revenue Minister in the first Congress Ministry headed by C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) during 1937-39. In 1948, the Zamindari system was abolished in the State. He genuinely believed that the city of Chennai (then Madras) belonged to Andhraites. Given his stature, Rajaji, with whom he had rifts, described Prakasam, at the time of his death, as one “who was truly a lion in every nerve of his”.
Since the mid-1930s, Prakasam was seen as a contender for the post of Premier, which was how the Chief Minister was called then. His turn came after the 1946 Assembly election. But his innings as the head of the government lasted barely for a year because of an inner-party rebellion. In March 1947, Prakasam quit the post. Omandur P. Ramaswami Reddiar, who succeeded him, remained in the post till April 1949. P.S. Kumaraswami Raja became the next Premier.
Much before he moved a private, non-official resolution in the Assembly in November 1950 against a section of Ministers, it was quite evident that Prakasam had become a rebel in the Congress. In February that year, he disapproved of the report by a three-member committee comprising Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, and Rajendra Prasad, and the earlier report by Congress national general secretary Shankarrao Deo on his original complaints. He called their work “one-sided”. He was served a show-cause notice. Prakasam wrote in reply that “the cause of discipline would be much better served by the Working Committee [of the Congress] by welcoming the inquiry if only to protect the fair name of the Congress,” according to a report of The Hindu published on April 27, 1950.
On November 23 that year, the veteran leader tabled the motion. The Hindu wrote: “There was a large attendance of members. The visitors’ galleries were crowded.” Prakasam broadly divided his charges against Ministers, serving and former, into several types. The first type referred to the grant of permits for iron and steel to Ramnath Goenka, Member of Parliament, and some others; the second to permits for cement to V. Kurmayya, who was Rural Development Minister in the Cabinet of Omandur Reddiar, and to the father-in-law of H. Sitarama Reddi, who was the serving Revenue Minister; and the third to a loan given to certain members of the Assembly who “constituted themselves into a limited company; applied for the loan, and got it”. Among others was the “Italian bus scandal” in connection with the nationalisation of bus services in Chennai and the grant of bus routes to a friend and partner of Sitarama Reddi and to O. V. Alagesan, a relative of M. Bhakthavatsalam, who was the Public Works Minister, The Hindu reported on the speech of Prakasam on November 24.
For two days, the former Premier spoke on his charges. Similarly, each and every serving or former Minister named by him too denied his charges with elaborate explanations and called them “baseless”. Bhakthavatsalam and Sitarama Reddi had, in particular, explained the procedures adopted for the permit issued to Goenka and emphasised that there was no wrongdoing in any of the transactions. Kurmayya, who was no longer a Minister, accused Prakasam of making false allegations with ulterior motives and attributed his campaign to his frustration over the loss of power in early 1947. B. Gopala Reddi, Finance Minister, said the genesis of the nationalisation of bus services was in a government decision made when Prakasam was the Premier.
The debate on the motion, which lasted five days, was put to voice vote on December 14. As the Congress had a commanding majority, the resolution was rejected. Speaker J. Sivashanmugam Pillai explained the reason for his decision to allow a debate on the motion and disapproved of Prakasam’s remarks that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and others had not inquired into the complaints.
The motion had its own impact on the political career of Prakasam. On December 5, 1950, the Congress Working Committee asked him why he had “disobeyed” its instructions in respect of the motion. In May 1951, Prakasam formed the Praja Party. The next few years were very eventful, both for Prakasam and for the Madras State. Prakasam joined hands with J.B. Kripalani, who headed the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP). Following the amalgamation of KMPP and Socialist Party, he became the chief of the Madras State’s wing of the Praja Socialist Party (PSP).
The 1952 Madras Assembly election, held in most parts of the present Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in addition to certain parts of Karnataka and Kerala, resulted in a hung Assembly. Though the Congress emerged as the single largest party, it fell short of majority. Prakasam tried to form a coalition of diverse parties that included the Communists, the Tamil Nadu Toilers Party, and the Commonweal Party. But the Congress outwitted him and Rajaji became the Chief Minister.
That year-end, the demand for the creation of Andhra State revived with an indefinite fast by Potti Sriramulu, a Gandhian, at Mylapore in Chennai. After 58 days of fasting, Sriramulu died on December 15, 1952. Unrest spread in the Telugu-speaking parts of the State, forcing Nehru to declare that a separate State would be formed. On October 1, 1953, the new State — Andhra — was formed. By then, Prakasam patched up with his former colleagues in the Congress and became the first Chief Minister. But, again, he did not, rather could not, remain in power for long as he refused to compromise on the policy of Prohibition. His government, which lasted 13 months, resigned after losing a censure motion on Prohibition by one vote. Prakasam, the quintessential rebel in politics, died in Hyderabad on May 20, 1957, after a brief illness.
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