YSR Congress party worker Subba Rao Gupta from Ongole town, who hit the headlines a few days ago for being thrashed by a close aide of minister Balineni Srinivas Reddy for making controversial comments on the party MLAs, is on cloud nine now.
For, Gupta got an appointment from party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. He would be meeting the chief minister at 9 am on December 30. He disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
“I will be going in a big rally from Ongole to Tadepally to meet the chief minister. I thank minister Balineni Srinivas Reddy for getting me an appointment with Jagan sir. I also thank my friends and media representatives for helping me in getting this opportunity to meet the chief minister,” he said.
Gutpa, considered to be a follower of Balineni, was in the news for criticising party MLAs Vallabhaneni Vamsi, Kodali Nani and Ambati Rambabu at a meeting in Ongole for making unsavoury comments against Nara Bhuvaneshwari, wife of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu in the recent assembly session. He said such incidents would damage the prospects of the party in the elections.
A day later, Gupta was assaulted by Balineni’s close aide Subhani in a hotel. A video of Subhani roughing up Gupta and forcing him to kneel down to seek apology went viral, evoking loud protests from Arya Vysya community.
Though initially Balineni tried to brush it aside a small incident, he later realised that it was snowballing into a major political issue. The community leaders forced Gupta to lodge a complaint with the police, who arrested Subhani.
Later, Balineni himself called Gutpa to his residence and made him a part of Jagan’s birthday celebrations. While giving clean chit to Balineni, Gupta said it was Subhani’s overaction which led to the entire crisis.
He made it clear that he had made certain comments only in the interest of the party and not against any leader. He said he would explain everything to the chief minister.
“I want Jagan to continue the chief minister for another six terms. I request everybody not to make a big issue out of it,” he said.