Hyderabad: The year 2014 witnessed a “khatta-meetha” (sweet and sour) relationship between the Chief Ministers of the two Telugu-speaking states K. Chandrasekhar Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu. Though, the ratio of khatta (sour) exceeded the meetha (sweet) part.
Though the names of both leaders include the common “Chandrulu” (moon) symbolising peace and calm, there was nothing peaceful about the way they attacked each other, almost from the day they assumed office.
This is despite the fact that both had worked together in the Telugu Desam in the undivided state for nearly two decades and had also been Cabinet colleagues. The two had parted ways over the issue of Telangana statehood in 2001 when Mr Rao set up the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. Now, with both ruling different states, strangely, they still see each other as a threat.
Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan’s efforts to broker peace between them on two occasions by arranging meetings at the Raj Bhavan too did not yield the desired results with the relationship souring over water, power and other issues.
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It did not take even an hour for Mr Rao to term Naidu as “karkotakudu” (most venomous snake) after hugging Mr Naidu at the Alai-Balai programme organised in the city by BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya in October. The snake allusion was made for Mr Naidu for denying Telangana State its legitimate share of power from AP power plants as per the AP Reorganisation Act.
Mr Rao, again, attacked Mr Naidu during a midnight press conference at the Secretariat after the conclusion of a Cabinet meeting and used some choice terms like shaitaan (devil) donga (thief), abaddalakoru (liar) and mosagadu (deceiver).
He had said, “You (Mr Naidu) are the worst (neechaathhi neechamaina) CM in the country. You come across as a shaitaan for TS. You are a devil that engulfed TS. You are wreaking vengeance against the people of the state. You are hell bent on seeing that all crops in TS dry up and farmers suffer losses by denying power from AP power plants. You are a deceiver and a cheat. You violated all the stipulations of the Act. You are a liar. Are Srisailam and Krishnapatnam your father’s estate? (nee ayya jagir aa?) You want the people in TS to suffer and the TRS government to become unpopular.”
“Babu says we lack vision and farsightedness (mundu choopu) and that’s why we are facing problems on the power front. It’s not that we don’t have mundu choopu but what we lack is his donga choopu (a thief’s sight),” he had added.
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Mr Rao had also warned Mr Naidu against conspiring against TS. “You will burn yourself if you play with fire. We will drag you to the Supreme Court for denying power, water to TS. We will recover the damages by squeezing your nose.”
Though Mr Naidu hit back at Mr Rao later, he was not as aggressive. “KCR is targeting me only to divert public attention from his failure to overcome power shortage. TS is facing a power problem because of his inefficiency. He has a habit of blaming me for everything. Tomorrow, Mr Rao and his party leaders might blame me even if there is a dispute in their families.”
After TRS activists set ablaze the TD office in Nalgonda recently following Mr Naidu’s letter to the Centre seeking stoppage of power in Srisailam, Mr Naidu lambasted Mr Rao. “While I’m trying hard for the development of the two states, you people are every day criticising me, trying to suppress the TD in TS. But I will never be scared as my hold is equal to a Komodo dragon’s.”
