After thorough bungling in putting out his point during the recent debate on IndiGo Airlines crisis in Republic TV hosted by Arnab Goswami, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) official spokesperson G Deepak Reddy seems to be desperate to cover up his failure and launch a counter-attack on the seasoned journalist.
Deepak Reddy had no answer to Arnab’s question as to why he was trying to give credit to TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh in resolving the crisis.
So, he chose another platform – ABN Andhra Jyothy, a known pro-TDP channel, to launch an offensive against Arnab.
On Monday, ABN-AJ hosted a debate apparently to defend Deepak Reddy and question Arnab Goswami’s audacity to belittle Lokesh.
During the debate, Deepak Reddy said Arnab had “no right to question” Lokesh over the ongoing IndiGo Airlines crisis.
He declared that he would not attend any debate hosted by Arnab and threw an “open challenge” to Arnab Goswami, claiming the journalist “would not get more votes than NOTA if he contested in Andhra Pradesh.”
He added that this reflected Goswami’s “level” and credibility.
Reddy further asserted that Arnab had no standing to question Lokesh or the TDP leadership on the unfolding crisis, which has paralysed flight operations and inconvenienced passengers across India.
However, Deepak Reddy’s political offensive appeared to backfire almost immediately on the social media with several netizens lashed out at him for his “arrogant” and “illogical” comments and his “attempt to deflect responsibility” at a time when TDP leader and Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu was under pressure to resolve the issue.
Several posts pointed out that Arnab Goswami is not a politician, and therefore comparing a hypothetical vote share in Andhra Pradesh to that of Lokesh—who has previously faced electoral defeats—was flawed and irrelevant.
“Arnab isn’t a politician, so questioning his vote count makes no sense. You can disagree with him, but tough questions don’t require a political mandate,” one user wrote.
Another social media user argued that the TDP had enjoyed a relatively “free pass” in public discourse for the past year-and-a-half and was now appearing “clueless” as the IndiGo crisis exposed governance gaps.
“Passenger disruption is not an Andhra Pradesh-only issue; it affects travellers across the world. When in power, you must answer. This crisis is not the personal property of anyone,” another user wrote, challenging Deepak Reddy’s defence of the minister.
A section of TDP sympathisers also expressed disapproval of Reddy’s approach, suggesting that dragging Lokesh’s name into the crisis unnecessarily had only amplified criticism at a national level.
“This Deepak Reddy messed it up big time,” one post read, advising the spokesperson to separate crisis communication from attempts to praise or protect party leadership.
Another TDP supporter urged Deepak Reddy to stop escalating the issue, warning that continued attacks on national media figures could further damage the party’s image.
