(S.R.Seshu)
One of the tallest leaders Telugus proud of, is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s former national president and union Minister, Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu. That is why, his election to Rajya Sabha for the fourth time in a row is an occasion for his party men, friends and well-wishers to celebrate. He was accorded a rousing reception both in Vijayawada and Hyderabad during functions organised to felicitate him.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu and his cabinet colleagues were present at the felicitation in Vijayawada while Union Ministers Bandaru Dattatreya and Manohar Parrikar- graced the function in Hyderabad besides Chandrababu’s Men Friday-Sujana Choudary and Murali Mohan.
The 66-year-old young Venkaiah humbly reciprocated the gesture by lavishly heaping a praise on the organizers but he chose the two occasions to hit the nail on the head on two topics of highly contemporary relevance: Caste and Defections.
At a time when the admirers of democracy are flabbergasted at the way defections are being encouraged by both the Chief Ministers brazenly, the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister’s comments assumed significance. In an unprecedented way, TDP and TRS are aiding and abetting defections leaving all democratic norms to the winds. In a bid to wipe out the YSR Congress Party, headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy, the most potential political threat to the TDP, Chandrababu Naidu is roping his MLAs in. On the other hand, the Telangana Chief Minister KCR is in mission mode in hugging rival MLAs with an excuse that he is taking vengeance at a conspiracy hatched by the TDP and Congress against TRS.
Eye for eye is KCR’s philosophy. Chandrababu Naidu, who is feeling the heat and crying foul on defections en masse in Telangana, is doing the same in Andhra Pradesh to weaken the main Opposition.
In this unpleasant backdrop, Venkaiah Naidu spoke about the “unethical practice” of defectors and declared that he would stick on to the BJP till he breathed his last. Chandrababu, who shared the dais with him in Vijayawada, must have been embarrassed by Venkaiah’s comments.
Venkaiah also dealt the caste issue at length, perhaps in the pretext of Kapu Nadu leader Mudragada Padmanabham’s fast-unto-death that got Chandrababu Naidu in a bind. The Union Minister raised many eyebrows when he made a critical analysis on caste as himself is seen as one of the three caste leaders (Chandrababu Naidu-Venkaiah Naidu and Cherukuri Ramoji Rao), who are allegedly the brains behind the development of their ilk. In an indirect reference to Nadendla Bhaskar Rao, who dethroned the TDP founder NT Rama Rao by backstabbing him in 1984, Venkaiah sought to know which caste Bhaskar Rao belonged to.
Venkaiah also made a reference to Brahmins and said that the entire caste should have got benefitted when PV Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister. “People use caste for political gains and forget about it later,” he said.
“A very good orator, Venkaiah touched two most crucial topics but did he try to find a solution to these issues? To start with, being the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, he should have come up with a practical solution to the shameless defections that weaken people’s perception on democracy,” an analyst pointed out. Kudos!
