The way YSR Congress party leaders accorded big welcome to Telangana information and public relations minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy when he came to Vijayawada on Monday surprised many people.
Ponguleti, who won from Palair assembly constituency in Khammam district in the recent assembly elections, came to Vijayawada on Monday to pay obeisance to Goddess Kanaka Durga on Indrakeeladri Hills and fulfil his vow.
He was accorded grand welcome by YSRCP Lok Sabha member P Mithun Reddy and his party colleagues.
Mithun Reddy personally took care of the Telangana minister and ensured that he had a special darshan and conducted prayers to the Goddess.
Ponguleti told reporters that he had prayed the Goddess Kanaka Durga to shower blessings on the newly-formed Telangana government.
“I came to the temple several times but it is for the first time that I came here as a minister,” he said.
The way the YSRC leaders have accorded such a tumultuous welcome to the Telangana Congress minister was really surprising, because the social media activists of the YSRC made extensive propaganda that the Telugu Desam Party had funded the Congress and campaigned for the party in Telangana.
The YSRC workers even propagated that the TDP had withdrawn from the contest in Telangana only to help present chief minister A Revanth Reddy, who is a close confidant of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu.
When the Congress came to power in Telangana, the YSRC social media workers have attributed it to the indirect help from the TDP. Even the YSRCP cadre have believed this narrative.
So, what message does the YSRC give to the cadre now, when its leaders are according such a reception to the Congress minister from Telangana?
Ponguleti gave a clarification to this. He said he had very close relations with YSRC president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
“I have personal relationship with Jagan and it is nothing to do with politics. Not just Jagan, I have close personal and business relations with several YSRCP leaders,” he said.
It may be mentioned that Ponguleti first got elected from Khammam parliamentary constituency on YSRCP ticket but later defected to the BRS. Yet, he had regularly met Jagan on business purposes.
Even before joining the Congress recently, Ponguleti had met Jagan and sought his cooperation.
