It has been a long time since one has heard about former Rajya Sabha member K V P Ramachandra Rao, who had once played a key role in Andhra Pradesh politics during the tenure of former chief minister late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.
On Thursday, after a long time, KVP surfaced before the media and made strong comments against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for targeting the opposition leaders using the central investigation agencies like the CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
He said the ongoing questioning of Congress president Sonia Gandhi by the ED was done as per the screenplay, production and scripting by Modi and direction of Amit Shah.
“The ED authorities are just puppets in the hands of Modi and Shah,” he said.
KVP alleged that the main objective of the BJP was to overshadow the “Bharat Jodo Yatra” of Rahul Gandhi and an attempt to erase the legacy of Gandhi and Nehru in Indian politics.
“But their attempts will not succeed. The witch-hunt will only enhance the image of the Gandhi-Nehru family and there in damage to the Congress party. It will bring more unit among the Congress leaders,” KVP said.
KVP has been in a virtual political oblivion for quite some time. After the death of YSR, he was made Rajya Sabha member for a second term in April 2014 and was allotted to Telangana, but KVP was hardly seen and heard in the Congress politics.
However, he used to be in the news occasionally by writing letters to TDP president and then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Polavaram issue and special category status. He never took part in any major agitations by the Congress party.
KVP had completed his tenure as the Rajya Sabha member on June 2, 2020 and disappeared in the public life.
The last time he was seen in public was at the “Atmeeya Sammelanam” held by YSR’s widow Y S Vijayalakshmi at Novotel, Hyderabad, on September 2, the death anniversary of YSR, where he made an emotional speech.
Though his family still has close relations with YSR family, YSR Congress party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has been keeping KVP at a distance unlike his father who treated KVP as his “soul.” One doesn’t know whether Jagan has been in talking terms with KVP.
But there was a talk that it was KVP who was the man behind Jagan’s sister Y S Sharmila floating the YSR Telangana Party in Telangana.
The BJP leaders alleged that KVP, who belongs to Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s community, had prompted Sharmila to launch the party to split the anti-establishment vote so that KCR will return to power.
There is still the talk that KVP was the brain behind the revolt by rebel YSR Congress party MP Kanumuru Raghu Ramakrishna Raju from Narsapuram against Jagan.
Raju, who happens to be nephew of former Congress MP Kanumuri Bapi Raju, is also “viyyankudu” of KVP. Both KVP and Raju continue to stay in Delhi and meet regularly.