There seems to be more to the resignation of Parakala Prabhakar, the communication advisor to the Andhra Pradesh government than what meets the eye.
Parakala sent his resignation letter to Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu a couple of weeks ago stating that he was hurt by the comments made by YSR Congress party leaders, particularly their president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy that he was being used for doing backroom negotiations and bargaining with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
He said he was pained at the way the Opposition party was linking his family relations with his professional work in the AP government and so, he did not want to give scope for such allegations anymore. Hence, his resignation.
Naidu, however, did not accept Parakala’s resignation and called him for a personal talk. During his personal talk, Parakala is learnt to have told the actual reason.
He reportedly told Naidu that though he was hurt with Jagan’s comments, what pained him most was the comments made by some senior TDP leaders that he was carrying some vital information from the state government to the Centre through his wife Nirmala Sitaraman.
“They are suspecting that I am a mole of the BJP in the state government. I can handle the allegations levelled by YSRC leaders, but what can I do when such allegations come from our own party leaders?” he reportedly asked.
Naidu is learnt to have asked Parakala to name such TDP leaders who made allegations against him, but the latter refused to divulge any names.
He said he was firm on his resignations. Having no option, the chief minister asked him to continue till July 4, when his term actually ends. Then, he could think of an alternative arrangement, say sources.
There is a suspicion that it was none other than Naidu, who was behind spreading such rumours against Parakala.
“After snapping ties with the BJP, Naidu himself has been side-lining him suspecting him to be a BJP mole. But if he sacks Parakala, it gives a bad name for him among the Brahmin community, which is already seething with anger over IYR Krishna Rao and Ramana Deekshitulu episodes. So, he adopted an indirect way to hound out Parakala,” source said.
