It is history now that Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had usurped power from his father-in-law legendary actor N T Rama Rao in a midnight coup.
Known for his manipulative politics, Naidu had managed to turn 160 out of 213 MLAs of the TDP to his side after dethroning NTR from power; and finally grabbed the party. Unable to bear the backstabbing, NTR had an untimely death due to heart attack within a few months.
Interestingly, there was an attempt to backstab even Chandrababu Naidu a few years later. And the attempt was made by none other than Naidu’s one-time colleague and present chief minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao.
This was revealed by former minister and presently Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party leader A Chandrasekhar, who represented Vikarabad assembly constituency five times between 1985 and 2009 – four times from Telugu Desam Party and once from Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
Chandrasekhar, who was forced to quit the TRS after facing a lot of humiliation after the Telangana formation, was in oblivion for some time before joining the Congress party. In January 2021, he joined the BJP.
He told the reporters on Thursday that KCR had made serious attempts to pull down the Chandrababu Naidu government.
“KCR had mobilised the support of as many as 60 MLAs and tried to dethrone Naidu from power,” he said.
However, former minister Jyothula Nehru from Jaggampet in East Godavari district had got the tip off about KCR’s plans to stage a coup against Naidu.
“He immediately brought it to the notice of Chandrababu Naidu, who got alerted and thwarted KCR’s attempt,” Chandrasekhar said.
The BJP leader also explained how KCR tried to lure him and other Dalit MLAs.
“He told me several times that I would be the first chief minister of Telangana, as he had promised to make a Dalit as the chief minister. But I did not fall into his trap,” he said.
Chandrasekhar said another Dalit leader and former minister G Vijayarama Rao advised KCR against mooting the Dalit CM proposal, as it was not possible for him to fulfil the promise.
“But KCR did not listen and often talked about making Dalit as the chief minister. Now, he is facing the blame of betraying the Dalits,” the former minister observed.
