There has been a talk in the media circles for quite some time that Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been suffering from symptoms of Alzheimer (memory loss) and that he had gone to the United States in the past to get the treatment for the same.
The talk was that Naidu had not been able to immediately identify people who he had met long ago. Many a times, he had spoken incoherently while addressing public and named wrong people.
For example, he said at a public meeting that he was the one who had suggested the name of Alexander for the President of India post, while the person he was referring to was actually Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.
He even claimed that he was the one who had inspired Satya Nadella to join the Microsoft because of which the latter could ultimately become its CEO.
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member K V P Ramachandra Rao alleged that Naidu had lost his mental balance completely and he needs to be taken to Switzerland for treatment, as local hospitals like the one at Erragadda did not have the capacity to treat him.
He was reacting to Naidu’s comment that the Polavaram project was his brainchild and he had compared himself with Jawaharlal Nehru who laid foundation stone for the Nagarjunasagar project.
“Your Alzheimer disease must be in the final stages,” the Congress MP said.
On Thursday, YSR Congress party MP V Vijay Sai Reddy went a step ahead and said the TDP president was suffering from a psychological disorder – “pathological lying.”
He said because of this disorder, Naidu was habituated to lying on every issue.
“People suffering from such a disorder will never tell truths. They tend to believe that whatever they say is a fact and they will try to convince others also saying the same,” Reddy said.
Some of the examples of this habitual lying, as quoted by Sai Reddy are: controlling Hud Hud cyclone, minimizing the impact of Titli, preventing tsunamis in Bay of Bengal and conduct of Olympics in Amaravati.
“Psychologists describe this pathological lying as a disease, but it is curable if given proper treatment. However, Naidu has converted this disease into his life style,” Sai Reddy said.