The other day, a former Congress MLA P Shashidhar Reddy, along with Telangana Telugu Desam Party leaders E Peddi Reddy, Chada Suresh Reddy and Boda Janardhan went to New Delhi and formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The BJP leadership in Delhi issued a statement to the press on these defections. However, the party did not make a mention of Shashidhar Reddy’s initial. This sent a wrong message to Delhi reporters.
The next day, these dailies and a couple of channels had reported that senior Congress leader and former minister Marri Shashidhar Reddy (instead of former MLA P Shashidhar Reddy) joined the BJP.
It was a shocking to the Congress party. Shashidhar Reddy is very popular in Delhi media circles as he was the son of former chief minister Marri Channa Reddy and the chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and held important positions in the Centre.
So, when the BJP said Shashidhar Reddy had joined the party, the Delhi media reported that it was Marri Shahshidhar Reddy. That landed him in deep embarrassment.
A latest report in a Telugu daily said four senior Congress leaders met BJP general secretary Ram Madhav couple of days back.
This was followed by breaking news on their Telugu TV channel and several prominent national newspapers carried the news that “senior Congress leader M Shashidhar Reddy joined BJP.
“When I enquired from a reporter covering BJP in Delhi, I was shocked to know that it was based on what BJP has circulated. This appears to be a part of a conspiracy to tarnish my image and erode my political credibility by rumour mongering and speeding falsehood, for which the BJP is well known for,” he alleged.
Stongly condemning this attempt, Marri said it was very unfair to carry out such false propaganda.
“I am a staunch Gandhian and will never compromise on principles and ideology. I have inherited the legacy of secularism - politically from the Indian National Congress,: he said.
Marri clarified that there was no way that he would even look at BJP. For a Gandhian like me, joining hands with those who have inherited Godse’s legacy is absolutely impossible.
