TDP's three-day "Mahanadu" begins today

HYDERABAD: The Telangana issue and the suspension of party Polit Bureau member Nagam Janardhan Reddy appear to have cast a shadow over the Telugu Desam Party's annual three-day conclave, ‘Mahanadu,' beginning here on Friday.

 

Dr. Reddy, a senior MLA from Telangana and till recently chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, was suspended from the party on Wednesday for “anti- party activities” after he pressured party president N. Chandrababu Naidu to take a strident stand on Telangana by writing a letter to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

The suspension came immediately after a majority of the Telangana MLAs held a public meeting in Karimnagar, heartland of Telangana, to neutralise the revolt staged by Dr. Reddy and the growing influence of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Telangana is not the only issue that stares at the party as it holds its 30th  Mahanadu coinciding with the founder and the former Chief Minister, N. T. Rama Rao's 88th birth anniversary.

The party has still not made it clear whether the issue will come up for discussion at all.


Till the arrival of Jagan on the political firmament, the TDP was perceived to be recovering its lost ground with the Congress in disarray after the tragic death of the former Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

But now suddenly it looks vulnerable and there is talk in the party that Jagan could prove to be another spoilsport like the Praja Rajyam Party chief Chiranjeevi did in the 2009 Assembly elections.

Not only from outside, Mr. Naidu has to contend with challenges from within. If there is infighting in some district units between an MP and an MLA in one and two former Ministers in another, an issue that is proving to be a headache for Mr. Naidu is the “succession war” triggered by his brother-in-law and Polit Bureau member Nandamuri Harikrishna.

The latter is bent upon projecting his son and Telugu film actor, NTR Junior against Mr. Naidu's son Lokesh as the next generation leader in the party. In spite of Mr. Naidu's warning and to his embarrassment, the local TDP unit of the Chandragiri Assembly constituency encompassing his native village has resolved to make Mr. Lokesh as in-charge.

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.