Hyderabad, March 09: The tussle between senior the Telugu Desam leader, Dr Nagam Janardhan Reddy, and party president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, ended on Tuesday, within 24 hours of the stand-off that took place on Monday.
Dr Nagam had single-handedly stalled proceedings in the Assembly and demanded that a Bill be tabled in Parliament during the Budget Session for Telangana statehood. Other legislators from the region took exception to the manner in which he alone decided to raise the issue and accused him of trying to blackmail them and portray them as villains. Mr Naidu, who initially encouraged this tirade against Dr Reddy, later decided to send a team of leaders to pacify him.
On Tuesday morning, before the commencement of the Assembly session, Mr Naidu convened a meeting of Telangana legislators which Dr Reddy attended. This was the first time in 10 days that Dr Reddy had come face to face with Mr Naidu. In the meeting, Dr Reddy proposed that it would be better for Telugu Desam’s Telangana MLAs to boycott the Assembly for the next two days, at least up to the Million March on March 10.
He told Mr Naidu that it would be awkward for the Telugu Desam’s Telangana MLAs to attend the session when ruling party MLAs have announced a boycott. Mr Naidu readily agreed to the suggestion and directed party MLAs belonging to the T-region to boycott the session till March 10. He also gave directions to party MLAs to participate in the Million March and show the party’s commitment to the Telangana issue. Insiders believe Mr Naidu made-up with Dr Reddy because it would go against the party’s candidates in the MLC polls if even one or two MLAs resort to cross voting.
–Agencies