Sparks fly, bring TTDP politburo meet to abrupt end

HYDERABAD: The gulf between the two groups of Telangana TDP leaders, one owing allegiance to party unit’s working president A Revanth Reddy and the other to senior leaders like Mothkupally Narsimhulu, is said to have widened on Friday when they met to discuss the situation arising out of Revanth Reddy’s reported meeting with AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi recently.

The politburo meeting was called following Revanth Reddy’s allegations that the party’s AP leaders got contracts from the Telangana government and openly advocating an electoral alliance with the Congress.
Reddy surprised everyone by attending the meeting which was chaired by the party’s state president L Ramana and attended by A Uma Madhav Reddy, M Narsimhulu, Aravind Kumar Goud and other senior leaders. Narasimhulu and Aravind Kumar Goud questioned Revanth Reddy about his meeting with Rahul Gandhi without taking prior information from party chief N Chandrababu Naidu. Reddy, however, told them that he would not react to media reports. 

When asked about his comments against AP cabinet minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and MLC Payyavula Keshav, he retorted that he was answerable only to Naidu and won’t reply to state leaders.Revanth Reddy, it is learnt, countered Narsimhulu, asking him whether he had the permission of Chandrababu Naidu to announce that the TDP was likely to forge an alliance with the TRS in the 2019 general election. As Revanth Reddy stood his ground, Narasimhulu and Goud walked out of the meeting. The two leaders said later that they had walked out of the meeting as they were not satisfied with the replies given by Revanth Reddy.

Narasimhulu lashed out at Revanth Reddy and charged him with weakening the party in Telangana. “Revanth Reddy made his mind to join the Congress and is levelling allegations against our leaders,’’ Narasimhulu said and alleged that 12  of the 15 TDP MLAs in Telangana had defected to the TRS due to the attitude of Revanth Reddy.

He even went to the extent of saying that the party lost its ground in Telangana due to the ‘note-for-vote’ scam in which Revanth Reddy was caught red-handed carrying cash.
With the walkout of the two leaders and Revanth’s insistence that he was answerable only to Naidu, the meeting ended inconclusively.  Meanwhile, party leaders said Revanth was waiting for the party to take action against him, which is likely to happen after Naidu’s return from foreign tour, rather than he himself resigning from the party.      

‘Last photo’ remark evokes laughter
As Revanth Reddy arrived at the meeting, some leaders remarked that it was a last opportunity to take photos with him. This created some light moments at the meeting which saw heated arguments.