Hyderabad, April 10: THE rank and file of Telugu Desam is shocked by the rift between the Nara and Nandamuri families, and fears that the rift bodes ill for the party at a time when the party is celebrating three decades of its existence.
However, some party seniors felt that Harikrishna’s grumbling was like the storm in a tea cup. “There are no objectionable points in the statement released by Harikrishna. One need not read much between the lines,” said K Yerran Naidu. The contents of the letter were similar to the placards exhibited by the party MLAs in the Assembly recently. In fact, they were not aimed against Naidu but targetted YS Jagan, he claimed.
Some other seniors recalled that it was Naidu who had played a key role in bringing NTR Jr into the fold of NTR family. Naidu also played a key role in fixing the marriage of NTR Jr.
As far as politics is concerned, they say, Harikrishna failed to enthuse the voters when he launched his own outfit. When Naidu undertook the 108-day Mee Kosam yatra across the state, Harikrishna was asked to hold fort in the party headquarters at NTR Bhavan and coordinate the tour. But Harikrishna could not manage the affairs even for four days, said a leader.
Another senior leader predicted that Naidu would talk to Harikrishna and sort out the issue amicably. “Harikrishna is likely to write another letter in a day or two to set the record straight,” another leader felt.
However, party chief N Chandrababu Naidu told reporters that the media gave too much importance to a trivial matter. Denying that a gulf developed between the Nara and Nandamuri families, Naidu termed the reports as the “imaginative skills of the media”.
–Agencies