The untimely public meeting held by Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu at Khammam on Wednesday evening has evoked sharp reactions not only from Telangana parties, but also from ruling YSR Congress party in Andhra Pradesh.
Senior YSR Congress party leader and advisor to Jagan Mohan Reddy government in public affairs Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy wondered what Naidu wanted to prove by holding a public meeting in Telangana.
“Where does he want to play his politics? Telangana or Andhra? Till 2014, Naidu was very active in politics in Telangana. In 2018, he received a severe drubbing in the elections there. After being silent for four years, now, he is shouting from roof tops that his party is still relevant in Telangana,” he criticised.
Sajjala sought to know what experiment Chandrababu Naidu wants to do in Telangana.
“His house is in Telangana and till the other day, he had his vote there. It’s okay if he wants to do politics in Telangana and serve the people there. But he cannot play with the people only at the time of elections, in which he is an expert,” he said.
Sajjala alleged that Naidu wants to market his party in Telangana only with an eye on forging an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“He is trying to create an impression that there is still some demand for his party in Telangana so that he can bargain with the BJP,” he said.
On the other hand, Telangana ministers T Harish Rao, Koppula Eshwar and others said Naidu had no locus stand in Telangana at all.
“He is a spent force here. Everybody knows he had betrayed the Telangana cause, particularly Khammam district, by snatching away seven mandals and even Sileru hydro-electric project,” they alleged.
The Telangana ministers said Naidu had resorted to graphics while presenting the pictures of crowds for his meeting.
“The ground where he addressed the rally is very small and it was packed with people brought from Andhra to project it as a huge meeting,” they said.
