Revanth fireworks

Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party witnessed early fireworks both in Telangana and in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday.

The sparks which flew with comments made by Telangana TDP unit working president A Revanth Reddy levelling serious allegations against the Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishunudu and Civil Supplies Minister Paritala Suneeta, ended with a war of words and demand for disciplinary action against Revanth.

As the party national president N Chandrababu Naidu is on a foreign tour, TDP general secretary and Minister Nara Lokesh tried to defuse the situation and said that the news of Revanth to join was a media fabrication.

"Neither the TDP nor Revanth Reddy made any such announcement. It would be better if media stops flashing false breaking news,” he said.

AP Deputy Chief Minister N Chinnarajappa took strong objection to Revanth’s comments and said that of late Revanth had made it a point to make such “atrocious” comments on AP leaders.

The speculation that Revanth would join Congress on November 9 gained credence as he targeted Yanamala alleging he bagged contracts worth Rs 2,000 crore for his relatives and Suneeta got a license for a distillery unit from Telangana government.

Sounding highly critical of the AP leaders, Revanth said while no minister from Telangana called on Naidu when he attended the wedding ceremony of Seethakka’s son, the AP ministers and leaders rolled out red carpet for KCR. He was more unhappy that his friend Pyavulla Keshav even had a one-on-one meeting with KCR.

He has also come with a new argument that if TDP can ally with BJP in Andhra Pradesh no one should find fault if the yellow party joins hands with Congress in Telangana. He said KCR had put him in jail and caused severe damage to TDP in the new state but still the AP ministers made a beeline to meet KCR.

When asked does this mean that he was going to join Congress, he shot back saying that he was not joining Congress party but would take up the issue of joining hands with Congress during 2019 polls after Naidu’s return to Vijayawada.

But the Telangana unit of TDP sees this outburst of Revanth as an indication of his decision to quit the party and join TRS sooner than later. But no leader is willing to go on record. t the same time, they have adopted a posture that even if Revanth quits, the TDP cannot be decimated from the electoral map of Telangana.

Within minutes, the TDP leaders got vertically divided into two groups pro- and anti-Revanth. Politburo member M Narsimhulu is heading the anti-Revanth group. It is learnt that Narsimhulu on Tuesday informed Naidu that Revanth was indulging in anti-party activities. He also spoke to TTDP president L Ramana and asked him to take disciplinary action against him.

It may be recalled that during the last meeting which Naidu had with Telangana TDP leaders in Hyderabad earlier this month, it was made clear that there would be no alliance either with Congress party or with TRS as was being speculated. “Congress is our enemy number one and TRS had served a severe blow to the party after bifurcation and hence the yellow party has to grow on its own,” Naidu told the leaders.

For some time it appeared as if the issue had settled but timing which Revanth chose to create a political psunami in TDP assumes importance. In fact, Revanth was to meet Naidu at Indira Gandhi international airport before he left for US on Tuesday night but the meeting did not materialise. Sources do not rule out the possibility of Naidu taking action against Revanth in a week or ten day’s time.