Chandrababu Naidu’s office can never ever sport the board that says : `Hamari koyi branch nahi hai‘.

In the two years since Andhra Pradesh got bifurcated and Naidu took charge of a truncated Andhra, he has brought to the office of chief minister, several offices. When he took over, his office at the State Secretariat in Hyderabad was not ready, so he got the Lakeview Guest House converted into his office. By the time it got ready, he decided to move out to his own capital area in Andhra Pradesh, where in Vijayawada and Velagapudi, he has at least three offices and camp offices to work from. In addition, he also has an office in a bus so that he can be working while on the move. Once Amaravati, the permanent state capital is ready by 2018, he will get another office there.

This month, the last of the employees of the Andhra Pradesh government moved to the temporary Andhra secretariat that has been built in Velagapudi. This means the Andhra Secretariat in Hyderabad is empty. This despite the fact that under the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014, the Andhra administration could have worked out of common capital Hyderabad till 2024. Both the Telangana and Andhra Secretariat in Hyderabad are part of the same complex.

Even though he has logged out of Hyderabad officially, Naidu is not willing to give up his designated space at the Secretariat. Doing so would mean giving up his claim on the city, he feels. Naidu spares no opportunity to tell anyone willing to lend an ear that Hyderabad or at least the modern part of the city – Cyberabad, the IT zone – was built by him when he was CM between 1995 and 2004.

Politically too, Naidu realises that his Telugu Desam has retired hurt in Telangana. Part of the reason for that lies with Naidu himself. During the agitation for Telangana, he did not take a clear position on the contentious issue because he wanted to ensure he did not lose out politically in both states, should division take place. But that ploy did not work and K Chandrasekhar Rao was successful in painting Naidu as the obstacle to Telangana, pushing him into a corner.

Then came the cash for vote scam in May last year, where Naidu’s senior leader in Telangana, Revanth Reddy was caught red-handed on tape, trying to bribe an independent MLA to vote for the TDP candidate in the MLC polls. The sting operation showed Reddy bragging about his proximity to his “boss” making it seem his bribery attempt was with Naidu’s blessings. Worse, an audio conversation surfaced in which a voice allegedly that of Naidu, assures the Independent MLA that everything promised to him will be taken care of.

That was good enough for KCR to mount pressure, making it seem that his Anti-Corruption Bureau could even interrogate the Andhra CM. Though Naidu’s name did not figure as an accused in the chargesheet, his name was mentioned in the sequence of events.

Naidu’s decision to move out of Hyderabad soon after was seen as linked to the cash-for-vote scandal. The fact that the case was subsequently put in cold storage, the opposition Congress alleged, indicated that a deal had been struck between Naidu and KCR.

Now that Naidu is out of Hyderabad, KCR wants the empty Andhra Secretariat to be handed over . That’s because Vaastu-obsessed KCR believes that the present Telangana Secretariat complex brings bad luck. Vaastu is the ancient `science’ of architecture. While those with a scientific temper say Vaastu Shastra does not have much scientific merit, its followers including KCR believe that imperfect Vaastu can mar the best of intentions. His office at the Secretariat, KCR believes, is not astrologically favourable not that he goes to office except to chair cabinet meetings once in two months. Instead, the CM works out of home or his farmhouse, 60 km from Hyderabad. A Rs 5 crore bullet proof bus also was bought for KCR but it is hardly used.

KCR initially thought he would build a brand new Secretariat elsewhere but procuring land by razing to ground an old Nizam-era hospital or defence land ran into hurdles. So now he wants to demolish the entire Secretariat complex and build from scratch.

For that Naidu has to vacate his unused office.

But the TDP chief moving out, eight years before the lease period ends, will mean giving up on Telangana and Hyderabad in terms of optics. He would be reluctant to do so. Already 12 of his 15 TDP MLAs have crossed over to the TRS and that means Naidu has to start from scratch in terms of encouraging new leadership in Telangana. The consummate politician he is, Naidu would not want to leave the political arena free for KCR to take over.

But KCR needs an office. So he has asked Governor ESL Narasimhan, common to both Andhra and Telangana, to persuade Naidu to hand over the keys. Architect Hafeez Contractor has already been commissioned to prepare the design of the new Secretariat complex, where the building will face east, considered Vaastu-friendly.

Till such time that KCR gets a brand new office, he is getting a Rs 40 crore camp office-cum-residence ready, which is fully Vaastu compliant. The present camp office that KCR occupies was built during YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s time but the Telangana CM found a part of it bad according to Vaastu. So that part remains unoccupied.

Everyone thought two years will be enough for the two Telugu-speaking states, bruised after a bitter division, to put their house in order. But it would seem office politics is taking up much of their time. And the exchequer pays for the two chief ministers indulging themselves.