Telangana animal husbandry minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav was one of the most die-hard loyalists of Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Even in 2014 assembly elections, he won from Sanathnagar assembly seat on the TDP ticket.
But once he defected to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2015 and became a minister in K Chandrasekhar Rao cabinet, he has turned the bitterest critic of Naidu.
He is now one of the most trusted lieutenants of KCR and at times, he attacks the TDP and Naidu, more aggressively than the TRS bosses.
Now, when Andhra Pradesh is all set to face the elections in a couple of months, Talasani has become a weapon for KCR to target Naidu.
Since Talasani has a lot of political connections in Andhra, he has been entrusted with the task of defeating the TDP by weaning the Backward Classes away from the party and divert them to the YSR Congress party, the new-found ally of KCR.
As part of his strategy, Talasani planned a big rally of Yadava community in the name of “Yadava Garjana” at Guntur on March 3, obviously to split the pro-TDP BC votes.
But, the Andhra Pradesh police denied permission to the rally on the grounds that it might create a law and order problem.
“How can the police stop my rally? They are behaving like TDP agents. They should remember that the TDP government is not permanent in AP. When Naidu can hold political meetings in Telangana, what is wrong if I hold a rally in Andhra?” he asked and asserted that he would move the court to get permission for the rally.
Talasani vowed to defeat Naidu and his party by all means.
“We shall directly campaign in Andhra, though we don’t have any presence there. We may not tell people who they should vote for. But we shall definitely ask the voters to defeat Naidu.