Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu does not react much when any leader from his political party defects to the rival political party – whether it is YSR Congress party or the Bharatiya Janata Party or even Jana Sena Party.
Reason is that Naidu himself is an expert in poaching of leaders from other parties.
Several leaders including as many as 23 YSRC MLAs and a couple of MPs joined the TDP in the last four and a half years.
He never made any comment, at least openly, when there were defections from his party into other parties.
But the way the TDP chief reacted to his co-brother Daggubati Venkateshwar Rao joining the YSRC along with his son Hitesh Chenchuram on Sunday surprised everybody.
He made strong allegations against Daggubati saying the latter had joined YSRC only with an eye on power. And he even dragged the name of NTR’s wife Lakshmi Parvathi into the issue, though he never wished to take her name in public.
“He has already changed countless number of parties. He doesn’t have principles in politics. Even Lakshmi Parvathi also joined the YSRC with the same intention. Daggubati and Lakshmi Parvathi are conspiring together to dethrone the TDP, which will never happen. By joining the YSRC, they are damaging the image of late N T Rama Rao,” Naidu said.
Apparently, Naidu is said to be panicky over Daggubati’s joining the YSRC, because the latter is also a son-in-law of NTR and his entry would bring a lot of credibility to YSRC.
And with Daggubati’s wife Purandeshwari still continuing in the BJP, the TDP chief fears it could be a tactical move by BJP leadership and particularly Narendra Modi to trouble him further. Hence, the agitating reaction from Naidu!