Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, known for his linguistic gymnastics and wordsmithery, tried something different this past week. He used numbers to take on Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu over delimitation. Taking to X, Tharoor responded to Naidu’s assurance that a 50 per cent increase in Lok Sabha seats, while preserving state-wise proportions, would address southern concerns over delimitation. Citing percentages, salaries and proportional gains, Tharoor sought to make his point. By his standards, the reply was straight. No sesquipedalian flourishes. No lexical labyrinths. Enter education minister Nara Lokesh, who responded on the same platform with a more than 250-word exposition on constitutional provisions, population growth, parliamentary representation and democratic balance. What began as a percentage problem soon acquired footnotes, indicating a role reversal. The politician famed for expanding vocabularies chose arithmetic. The Chief Minister’s son, better known for brevity on X, responded with constitutional theory leaving many wondering over the unexpected duel between arithmetic and constitutional exegesis.
Nani-Chinni domestic quarrel gets uglier
Former MP Kesineni ‘Nani’ Srinivas is in the middle of a no-holds-barred battle with his younger brother and Vijayawada MP Kesineni ‘Chinni’ Sivanath. A row that has gone public over distribution of family properties has seen the brothers trading charges, and even filing cases with the police against each other. Apparently with his back to the wall, Nani went on to call Chinni a “pittaladora” who is good at telling “pitta kathalu”, alleging that all charges against him were nothing more than tall tales. Instead of going public with the allegations, Nani said Chinni, being an MP, should instead take his complaints to the Prime Minister, home minister, CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. Not stopping there, Nani alleged Chinni’s involvement in a land issue, liquor scam, massive pre-launch cheating in Hyderabad projects and so on, prompting his younger brother to file a case of defamation against his elder brother. As the fight between the brothers, one a former MP and the other a current MP, unfolds, stakes couldn’t be much higher for them both.
Vizag top cop ends up at the wrong meeting
Sometimes, an innocuous comment can land a person in an unexpected tight spot. Finding himself in just such a pickle was Vizag police commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi after his remarks during a protest meeting on Vizag’s Beach Road. Invited to speak at what was described as an environmental conservation gathering, Bagchi said that environment protection was a collective responsibility. Sparks began to fly soon after as the event was in fact a protest against the establishment of data centres in the city. With social media posts soon claiming that the city’s top cop was opposed to the data centre project, it was left to local MP M. Sribharat to clarify that such portrayal was misleading and that a case would be filed against those responsible for spreading the misinformation. Apparently perturbed at the turn of events, a formal complaint of twisting of comments out of context was lodged by the police commissioner himself.
Chevireddy sparks YSRC debate over non-locals
YSRC leaders in Prakasam district are scratching their heads after Chandragiri former MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy resurfaced in Ongole politics by attending a party programme in Darsi. After the 2024 election defeat, many in the party believed the Ongole chapter had closed for Chevireddy with reports that Y.V. Subba Reddy could be appointed parliamentary in-charge only strengthening that belief. Some local leaders were even hoping that the post would finally go to someone from the district. Just when party workers thought the “non-local” chapter had been closed after the crushing 2024 defeat, Chevireddy’s reappearance seems to have reopened the book. Party workers are now wondering whether the election postmortem was ever conducted. If it was, they joke, the report appears to have gone missing.
Minister spills the beans on YSRC rule
Labour minister Vasamsetti Subhash has apparently turned a new leaf during the past two years after joining the Telugu Desam. He admitted that during his 10 years in the YSRC, he could see only exploitation, ganja, selling spurious liquor, grabbing and hiding, not providing employment to the youth among a litany of failures he listed. Now, apparently after joining Telugu Desam, he learnt that hard work, service to the people, transparency and accountability under the leadership of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, human resources minister Nara Lokesh and Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan and others, were what mattered. This left several wondering if Subhash knew more than he revealed about the problems when the YSRC was in power.
Eggs-change of words as political row cracks open
Anything and everything, as long as it attracts some publicity, appears to have become the grist for politicians nursing a grudge. What began as a comment by a former minister, that anyone who walks into the home of a particular woman minister in the Naidu Cabinet will get a job, has quickly boiled into a war of words. Cut to the quick, the minister hit back, doubling down that people will get jobs but that she also knows how to crack an egg if the need be. The reference was to the former minister being described in the past, when the YSRC was in power, as a “kodiguddu minister” by Pawan Kalyan. Things could have ended there but the former minister stepped up the attack, taking a personal pot-shot at the woman minister. This resulted in an outcry from the TD cadres alleging a personal attack on a woman and a Dalit leader. This forced the former minister to claim that the ruling party was highlighting non-issues to divert public attention. And these things stand for now.
Contributions from Sohan Lal, Sampat G. Samritan, Aruna, Vadrevu Srinivas, Avinash P. Subramanyam, K.M.P. Patnaik
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
