The arrest of Telugu Desam Party national president N. Chadrababu Naidu in the alleged Skill Development Corporation scam involving ₹371 crore just months before crucial elections has triggered political turmoil in the State.
State leaders of the BJP, the Jana Sena Party and the Left parties have strongly condemned the arrest calling it a political vendetta and undemocratic. But mum’s the word for Congress leaders who have been maintaining a strategic silence on the arrest of the leader of the Opposition in the State.
Sources in the party said the leaders are discouraged from making any comment on the developments in the State. The party leaders and cadres are reminded of the fact that despite an appeal made by seniors in the party, Mr. Naidu had not spoken a word against the disqualification of the All India Congress Committee leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, a day after a Surat court convicted him in a defamation case.
It may be recalled that the Congress veteran K.V. P. Ramachandra Rao, at a meet-the-press programme held in Vijayawada, had made a fervent appeal to the TDP chief to extend support to the party on the disqualification issue. He said the silence of the Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification was shameful.
Making a strong case in support of Rahul Gandhi, Mr. Rao had asserted that the latter was being targeted for raising the issue of “shady deals” of the Adani Group and the tacit support extended to him by the Modi government.
In almost a similar situation when leaders from other States had sharply reacted to the disqualification move, but their Andhra Pradesh counterparts remained silent, a visibly perturbed Mr. Rao said that he could understand the ‘compulsions’ of the YSR Congress Party and the Jana Sena Party, but silence of Mr. Naidu, who claimed to be the kingmaker was ‘very glaring’ and had warned saying: “It happened to Rahul today, it may happen to you tomorrow. If you are silent today, you will lose the right to question tomorrow.”
