Who got the mileage? Naidu or Dr.Singh? - Bhandaru Srinivas Rao (I.I.S.)

Who got the mileage? Naidu or Dr.Singh? - Bhandaru Srinivas Rao (I.I.S.)


Telugu Desam party chief and former chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s alleged remarks against none other than Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is reprehensible.

That too a person, who held highest office (Chief Minister) and played a key role in installing as many as two to three non-Congress Prime Ministers at the Centre, indulging in passing such uncharitable remarks against Dr Manmohan Singh, indeed uncalled for.

I for one, for a second wondered how come Naidu can make such a remark like ‘sadist’. Does Naidu aware of meaning of the word ‘sadist’? A ‘sadist’ is a person who tries to derive pleasure from causing physical or mental pain to people or animals.

Naidu’s grouse against Dr Singh was that the latter had not given him appointment. As an Opposition leader he had every reason to feel hurt for not getting audience from a Prime Minister. It is understandable. But, had Naidu followed the protocols to get appointment with the Prime Minister during his whirlwind visit to the state?

If one has to believe the septuagenarian Chief Minister K Rosaiah, Naidu had only sent a letter drafted by his secretary seeking appointment, that too in the last minute. Rosaiah, who had been maintaining his ‘cool’ ever since he took over the reins in trying times, in spite of provocation from the Opposition leader calling him ‘incompetent’ and ‘inefficient’ Chief Minister, appears lost ‘patience’ and burst out his ire against Naidu. Yet with greater restrain! . “I never reacted to Naidu’s provocative statements in the past against me. Simply, because I accept I am old, inefficient and incompetent CM,” he said and added; “What about Naidu, who claims to have held office for nine long years and gained notoriety as “king maker’ at the Centre, besides meticulously lobbying to play host for none other than American President Bill Clinton. Doesn’t he aware of protocols? If Naidu had intention to meet Prime Minister and submit a memorandum, he could have as well accepted our invite and attended to ceremonial see off of Prime Minister.”

Naidu’s every political act, in the recent past, ironically getting misfired. If the ‘maha dharna’ in Maharashtra over construction of projects illegally over river Krishna on the eve of bypolls in 12 constituencies of Telangana, drew a flak as his party lost miserably, then his latest near the Begumpet airport, protesting against the PMO’s refusal to give him time during PM’s recent Hyderabad visit, also ended in yet another fiasco with Naidu’s slip of tongue ‘language’.

Undoubtedly, Naidu and his party’s ‘think tank’ running out of ideas and hence many feel deliberately indulging in cheap political gimmicks to derive some political mileage of it. It may be true every political party today look for political mileage and the word ‘mileage’ no more confines to ‘automobile industry’ to boast off. Every political party in the country strives for this ‘political mileage’ and Naidu’s recent act during Prime Minister is one such. And finally, who got the ‘mileage’? Naidu or Dr Singh?