Kurnool: Anantapur MP, J.C. Diwakar Reddy, while sharing the dais with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on two occasions in the last 10 days, during the latter’s visit to Rayalaseema, had passed a jarring comment on the dominant Reddy community. He allegedly said that they should bury their identity and rally behind Mr Naidu to bring him back to power in the next general elections.
Normally, this comment could have passed off without creating any ripples in the otherwise sensitive Ra-yalaseema region. The politically dominant Reddy community was shocked at the outburst and is trying to rein him in from “furt-her weakening the community” with such remarks.
Not a day passes without some reference or the other over Diwakar Reddy’s remarks whenever politicians, officials, students, teachers, businessmen meet. It has become such a prestigious issue for the community organisers like Manohar Reddy, president of Reddy welfare association, based out of Kurnool.
He said Diwakar Reddy’s remarks would weaken the Reddy base as business people and contractors are threatened by the Mr Naidu administration to shift loyalties to his camp. Even a leader like Bhuma Nagi Reddy who was present at Muchumarri was helpless when Mr Diwakar Reddy fired his first salvo over the community, by flaying YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in derogatory terms.
Mr Diwakar Reddy chose the Muchumarri lift irrigation scheme inauguration in Kurnool district and the Pydipalem lift inauguration in Kadapa district to denigrate Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy and support Mr Na-idu. YSRC MLA Gadikota Srikanth Reddy criticised Mr Diwakar Reddy for his comments and said the people would teach him a lesson if he continued to behave like a rowdy.
Taking objection to Mr Diwakar Reddy’s behaviour at Pydipalem meeting, he stated that Chandraba-bu had, in fact, provoked vi-olence in Rayalaseema. He suggested that Mr Diwakar Reddy should keep his remarks under control.
Public accounts committee chairman Buggana Raj-ender Reddy sharply atta-cked Mr Diwakar Reddy.
Seeking support for Te-lugu Desam in the name of a community was unacceptable, he said. Though YSR Congress was floated by a Reddy, it has support from all sections of the society, he added.
Rayalaseema Parirakshana Samiti (RPS) president Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy vociferously condemned Mr Diwakar Reddy for his outburst and said that public discourse of politicians should be dignified. Traditionally, Reddys are known be protectors of villages and towns, and weakening them on caste lines is a bigger game plan of the coastal area leaders, he said. He also said that cinemas have been depicting Rayalaseema Reddys in poor light and warned them against doing it.
JC trying to please CM with eye on central post
J.C. Diwakar Reddy, elected since seven consecutive elections, is a hot to-pic for discussion in state politics, as he waits for a key post in the Union Government.
Mr Diwakar Reddy, who does not want to contest in the next polls, was actively taking part in the chief minister’s programmes from all parts of Rayalaseema region. He dared to attack YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, his father late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and grandfather late Y.S. Raja Reddy.
The veteran leader has been elected as MLA continuously for six times from Tadipatri assembly segment and once as MP from Anantapur Lok Sabha constituency.
Mr Diwakar Reddy, who shifted loyalties to Telugu Desam from Congress during the state division, played a key role to get a few MLAs from his constituency. Though he worked as a minister with a majority of the Congress chief ministers, he remained an MP.
With no MP from Rayalaseema given a chance in the Union Cabinet, and Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Sujana Chowdary representing Telugu Desam from other regions in the state, the senior leader from Rayalaseema is reportedly making efforts to appease the TD chief and NDA government to get a placement. However, leaders from Kadapa district alleged that the MP had forgotten his previous days when he was sheltered by the YS family.
