There are certain self-styled “political intellectuals” in Andhra Pradesh – like former Congress MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar or former joint director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) V V Lakshminarayana or Lok Satta founder and former IAS officer Dr Jayaprakash Narayan.
Their political stands are unpredictable. Nobody knows when they praise or criticise a leader of a particular political party or suddenly take a U-turn to shower praises on the rival party leaders. So, it is always confusing for the people as to whether they are really speaking facts or just through their hats.
Take the case of Lakshminarayana, better known as JD in Andhra circles.
Everybody knows how he indulged in witch-hunt of YSR Congress party president and present Andhra chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the alleged quid pro quo case when he was in the CBI during 2011-13.
JD was responsible for the imprisonment of Jagan for 16 months in the case. Later, he took voluntary retirement from the IPS and joined the Jana Sena Party after posing himself as a social activist for some time.
After unsuccessfully contesting in Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha elections in 2019, he resigned from Jana Sena and has been adopting independent political stand.
He has been saying that he would contest the Lok Sabha elections again and has got invitations from all the political parties, including the YSRC.
On Friday, JD suddenly surfaced at a YSRCP official function – Jagananna Suraksha – at Srisailam held under the auspices of local MLA Shilpa Chakrapani Reddy. To the surprise of everybody, he showered praises on the chief minister.
JD said Jagan Mohan Reddy had introduced several schemes for the welfare of poor people, including Arogya Suraksha, Nadu-Nedu, Ragi Malt for the school children and mid-day meals scheme.
He said the school where he had studied in the past had undergone a lot of transformation in the last four years.
“Now, the school students are getting nutritious food, which was not there in the past,” he said.
On the health camp, JD said in the past, such camps were held only for one day.
“But now, for the first time, the health camps are being conducted for so many days. It is good to see doctors coming to the doorsteps of the people and providing healthcare to them. Everybody should appreciate the efforts of the Jagan government,” he said.
One won’t be surprised, if Lakshminarayana joins the YSRCP soon and seek a ticket in the upcoming elections.