Hyderabad: Superstar Rajinikanth has come in the crosshairs of the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in poll-bound Andhra Pradesh for praising Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, his Cabinet ministers and YSRCP leaders lashed out at Rajinikanth, saying he might be a ‘hero’ in Tamil Nadu, but a ‘zero’ in Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu, on his part, has defended the veteran actor and sought an apology from the YSRCP leaders for the organised attack by “Jagan’s crooked gang”.
The slugfest began after Rajinikanth attended legendary actor-turned politician and TDP founder N.T. Rama Rao’s birth centenary celebrations last week in Vijayawada.
Calling Naidu a friend for over three decades as well as a visionary, Rajinikanth said that Andhra Pradesh will reach great heights if Naidu’s development vision of 2047 is implemented.
He also pitched Naidu as the next CM of Andhra Pradesh, adding that the almighty must give him the power to implement his policies in coming years.
Andhra Pradesh will go to election next year.
Soon after Rajinikanth’s comments, the YSRCP leaders jumped into action calling out how unaware he is of the situation on ground.
“A star had come here. He is a star in a neighbouring state but he is a zero here. And that zero is preaching…that Naidu’s governance is good. Among the horrible people who supported Naidu when he backstabbed NTR to topple his government (in the 90s), Rajinikanth is one of them. And such a person is talking highly of Naidu,” Andhra Pradesh minister Kodali Venkateswara Rao, popularly referred to as Kodali Nani, said Sunday.
The people of Andhra Pradesh will not take Rajinikanth’s words seriously, he added.
For years, detractors of Naidu have assailed him for betraying his father-in-law NTR and toppling his government to take control of the TDP in 1995. Of late, Naidu has argued that the move was necessary.
Naidu, meanwhile, called Rajinikanth “an epitome of honesty, integrity, and humility”. People will teach them a befitting lesson, he tweeted Monday with the hashtag ‘telugupeoplewithRajinikanth’.
Strongly condemn the demeaning & derogatory comments made by YSRCP leaders against the legendary superstar @rajinikanth, who is an epitome of honesty, integrity, and humility. Rajinikanth has a heart of gold and is much loved by all in India and across the globe. The organised… pic.twitter.com/xnxLIuhltF
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) May 1, 2023
Also Read: NTR vs YSR & Naidu factor: How Jagan’s plan to rename university reopened old wounds, feuds
‘NTR said he was backstabbed’
Meanwhile, Nani was scathing in his attack on both Naidu and Rajinikanth.
“NTR (in the past) spoke about how he was backstabbed by his son-in-law. Rajinikanth spoke about how great NTR was as an actor, a politician — then why did he support Naidu when NTR was alive (at the time when he was toppled). All these idiots who ousted NTR from the CM’s post, who killed him are celebrating his birth anniversary,” the YSRCP leader said said.
Andhra’s tourism minister and former actor Roja Selvamani objected to Rajinikanth praising Naidu for developing Hyderabad. “Does Rajinikanth not know that Naidu was the chief minister of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh only till 2013? After that, Hyderabad grew without Naidu over the last decade,” she said Sunday.
Another minister Seediri Appalaraju had also pointed out how Rajinikanth supported Naidu and visited a plush hotel in Hyderabad when the latter was planning a coup against NTR to take over party reins in the 90s.
Jumping into the scene Tuesday was filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, a critic of Naidu, who supported YSRCP leaders saying they had just made ‘comments’.
They just made comments , but how about the time you TORTURED and KILLED the legendary NTR ? https://t.co/VvowmfW818
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) May 2, 2023
Disagreements over power sharing, especially after NTR’s second marriage with Lakshmi Parvathi in 1993, and her growing prominence in the party, drew opposition from a section of TDP members, including Naidu. Rajinikanth had come to a plush Hyderabad hotel in the nineties, while Naidu gathered disgruntled MLAs before a coup.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: ‘Blood, gore, rivalry’: 4 years on, a brutal murder still haunts Andhra CM Jagan’s clan
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