Hyderabad: As the Telangana Bill, whose contents are well known, winds its way through the constitutional corridors, politicians don’t appear to have anything new to say to the subject.
Almost as if to add some drama, TD president N. Chandrababu Naidu and TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao have got into this strange game of bashing each other daily through the media.
Rao picks up an issue and bitterly criticises Naidu. Hours later, Naidu calls the media and unleashes a vicious attack on Rao. The next day, Rao holds a presser and gets right back at Naidu. And the TD chief retaliates. And so it goes on.
Their pressers are invariably marked by mudslinging and name-calling that can get nasty.
And so it was on Wednesday. Rao picked up the threads from Naidu’s press conference of Tuesday, where the TD chief had poked fun at Rao retiring to his farmhouse frequently.
On Wednesday, Rao shot back at Naidu:?“I live in a farmhouse, I sleep there, it is my life. You come and watch my activities there, I am not doing anything in secret or in the dark like you. You used to make secret and dark night (sic) visits to Singapore. Did you say why you went to Singapore? Was it not for overseeing your assets there? You are a bloodsucker. You have killed hundreds of youth in the name of encounters. and you have served the punishment at Alipiri in the bomb blast. You are the personification of deceit, backstabbing, corruption, and opportunism.”
There was more:?“Everyone in the state knows what I have been doing for the last 13 years. I have sacrificed several posts for the sake of Telangana, but I did not backstab like you did your father-in-law. I know that you lost power because of the TRS in 2004. Why are you talking of equal justice now??What were you doing earlier? What development are you talking of in Hyderabad??Was it not a fact you hid street beggers when (US?President)?Bill Clinton came to Hyderabad??Was it not a fact that the Switzerland Prime Minister called you a lunatic?
Naidu, therefore, could not take it lying down. And he said:?“I am always ready to have direct debate with Chandrasekhar Rao, I am not a coward, I don’t fear KCR, Fear is not in my dictionary. Let him come for a debate on issues. When you were minister and Dy Speaker in my regime, how did you forget self-rule for Telangana??Why did you never demand separate Telangana??Was it not a fact that you openly said that Telangana development is possible because of me? Did you not say a leader lke Chandrababu is never born in the world? I am prepared for a direct fight with you on any issue. I don't in indulge political trade like you.”Expect more on Thursday.
