Till the other day, there was a talk that Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu would allot the state assembly deputy speaker post to his alliance partners – Jana Sena Party or the Bharatiya Janata Party as part of understanding among themselves.
The names of senior leader Mandali Buddha Prasad from Jana Sena and P Vishnu Kumar Raju from the Bharatiya Janata Party were doing rounds in the party circles as the probable candidates for the deputy speaker post.
However, after maintaining suspense for five months, Naidu suddenly handpicked maverick leader Kanumuru Raghu Ramakrishnam Raju as the candidate for deputy speaker post. Of course, Naidu is learnt to have convinced the alliance partners on his choice.
This has led to the debate why Naidu had chosen Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, of all, for the post. The answer is not beyond one’s imagination.
Raju, who was a Lok Sabha MP of YSR Congress party from Narasapuram, had turned a bitter critic of YSRCP president and former chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy within a year.
For his rebellious attitude, Raju suffered a lot during the YSRCP regime and had to face several cases including the sedition case.
He was arrested and allegedly tortured by the police, for which he is still fighting a legal battle against Jagan and the police officials who targeted him.
He managed to survive politically, thanks to the support from the BJP top leadership in Delhi, but he could not come to his constituency for nearly four years. But Raju did not stop attacking Jagan and was virtually a thorn in the flesh of Jagan in the last four years.
Now that he had got elected as an MLA on behalf of the TDP from Undi assembly constituency, Raju has got a chance to take revenge against Jagan. That is why Naidu made him the deputy speaker.
For Jagan, it is like rubbing the salt on his wounds. He is already seething with anger for his bitter critic Ch Ayyanna Patrudu becoming the speaker. Since he cannot call Ayyanna Patrudu as “Adhyakshaa” or “sir” and cannot salute him with folded hands, Jagan has been avoiding attending the assembly.
Now, with Raju being the deputy chief minister, it is all the more irritating for Jagan. Even if he wants to enter the assembly in the coming days, he doesn’t want to face Raju in the Speaker’s chair. That is what Naidu wants!
