Is Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu losing control over his own party leaders?
The answer seems to be yes, if one were to go by the way the disgruntled party leaders are taking it easy with Naidu with regard to making statements against him and his style of functioning.
Though Naidu has been threatening that he would take disciplinary action against the rebel party leaders, they are caring a hoot for him as they know that he cannot take any such action.
On Tuesday, Naidu held a meeting with party leaders of Chittoor district and expressed concern over the dwindling image of the party among the public.
Two of the senior leaders of the party – Srikalahasti MLA Bojjala Ramakrishna Reddy and Chittoor MP N Sivaprasad – abstained from the meeting without even informing Naidu.
While Bojjala has been sulking after being sacked from the cabinet recently, Sivaprasad openly raised a banner of revolt against Naidu for ignoring Dalits.
What is worse, Naidu announced the suspension of two of the party leaders who were allegedly indulging in illegal sand mining in Swarnamukhi river, against which the villagers were protesting before Yerpedu police station and were killed in a lorry accident. But the accused had already left the country without the knowledge of the TDP chief.
In Visakhapatnam, too, former minister Bandaru Satyanarayana Rao revolted against Naidu for not considering his name for the cabinet berth.
He expressed anger over Naidu’s indifferent attitude towards him by sending a defector like Ganta Srinivasa Rao for negotiations, instead of Naidu himself directly talking to him.
And in Kurnool, TDP leader Shilpa Mohan Reddy is not ready to compromise on the Nandyal seat and cared a damn for Naidu, who tried to pacify him.
May be, more and more leaders would come out openly against Naidu’s style of functioning in the coming days!
