Two decades earlier, chief minister Rao had been a victim of the Congress ‘high command’ culture; he had no desire to now victimize others. The party, however, was still in feudal mode. The Congress general secretary Janardhana Poojary called up Ramu Damodaran to check who the prime minister had chosen as the new chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. Ramu communicated the response back to Poojary: ‘You decide, even if it is any man on the street.’ The next day, Poojary sent Ramu a follow-up. ‘Does he have any particular man on the street in mind?’37
