It is an open secret that pro-Telugu Desam Party media houses like Andhra Jyothy and TV5 had taken anti-Bharatiya Janata Party stand soon after the TDP snapped its ties with the saffron party and came out of the National Democratic Alliance.
Andhra Jyothy managing director V Radhakrishna used to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah in his weekly-column “Kotha Paluku,” while his newspaper and television channel ABN Andhra Jyothy had telecast several debates on various issues criticising Modi on the latter’s alleged betrayal of Andhra Pradesh.
So was the case with TV5, which aired several programmes targeting the NDA government in general and Modi in particular on various issues such as denial of special category status to AP.
Both the channels extensively telecast the protests by the TDP MPs inside and outside Parliament against Modi government.
Now, the situation has completely changed. While the TDP had to bite the dust in the elections in the hands of YSR Congress party, Narendra Modi-led BJP came back to power for a second term with thumping majority.
As a result, TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has once again taken a U-turn, stating that he had made a mistake of entering into confrontation with the BJP and that he had no personal enmity with Modi.
He has also started sending feelers to the BJP leadership for a compromise through his former colleagues like Sujana Chowdary.
Naturally, the two pro-TDP channels have also changed their tune.
Radhakrishna, in particular, took a complete U-turn like Naidu and started cosying up with the BJP. He went all the way to New Delhi to have a one-on-one meeting with BJP president Amit Shah.
But there is always a danger that the BJP might recall the past and question the programmes telecast by these channels against Modi and the BJP.
So, these two channels are learnt to have quietly erased the video clippings of all the anti-BJP and anti-Modi debates and programmes from their libraries as well as YouTube.
According to sources, ABN Andhra Jyothy and TV5 have recently erased more than 3,000 videos pertaining to anti-Modi and anti-BJP programmes from YouTube, so that nobody could question them for taking such a stand.
However, the BJP leaders are not so foolish. The technical team of the BJP is learnt to have already downloaded such programmes and preserved all such videos, soon after they were telecast for future references.
So, even though the videos are not visible on YouTube, they can be found in the libraries of the BJP!
