If the meeting of former Congress MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar with Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday was a big surprise, the meeting of another Congress leader and former Minister S Sailajanath with the chief minister evoked more curiosity.
Sailajanath went to AP Secretariat at Velagapudi and met the chief minister at the pre-scheduled time and had a long discussion with him. After that, he also met assembly speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao in his chambers.
Naturally, media has evinced a lot of interest in his meetings with Naidu and Kodela. When he was a minister, Sailajanath was a bitter critic of the TDP president.
Though all his colleagues had joined different parties, he stayed back in the Congress along with PCC chief N Raghuveera Reddy and a few others. He has been loyal to the party.
Now with Sailajanath meeting Naidu, it made one wonder whether he is also looking for greener pastures in politics, since there is no future for the Congress party in AP in the coming years.
But Sailajanath clarified later that his meetings with Naidu and Kodela had no political significance.
“I met Naidu to discuss the irrigation projects in Anantapur. Similarly, I had to meet the Speaker to discuss the former MLA pension which has been pending for a quite long time. Secretariat belongs to everybody. There is nothing wrong in meeting the chief minster to represent on people’s issues and personal problems,” he defended.
He made it clear that he would continue in the Congress party and would fight the next elections on the Congress ticket only.
