Bharatiya Janata Party leader P Manikyala Rao, who holds endowments portfolio in the Telugu Desam Party cabinet in Andhra Pradesh, has landed chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu in an embarrassing position by going to the residence of mining tycoon and former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy in Bellary a couple of days ago.
It so happened that Manikyala Rao attended a programme at Bellary which was decided almost two months ago.
After the programme, the minister went back to his guest house and was about to return to Andhra Pradesh, when the local BJP leader B Sriramulu came there. He requested Manikyal Rao to come to his residence for a cup of tea, since the minister was coming to Bellary for the first time.
The minister could not say no, because he had known Sriramulu for a long time as both of them are from the BJP. When he was sipping tea at Sriramulu’s residence, Gali came there much to his surprise.
The mining baron then requested Manikyala Rao to come to his residence to bless his newly-married daughter. Though the minister said he was getting late for the train, Gali used the sentiment weapon saying if the former blessed his daughter, it would mean she would have the blessings of all the gods.
Having no option, Manikyal Rao went to Gali’s residence, blessed his daughter and of course, received a lot of gifts from the mining don.
Needless to say, the whole episode was brought to the notice of the chief minister before the cabinet meeting, landing him in an embarrassing situation. However, Naidu could not say anything as Manikyala Rao was from the BJP!
