Fact Sheet: Cong ministers chant NTR mantra!

Now that the talk of mid-term elections to Lok Sabha and if possible to the State Assembly is doing rounds very seriously, the Congress party is trying every strategy to outwit the main opposition party, Telugu Desam.

The Y S Rajasekhar Reddy government, which has beaten the TD in its own coin by announcing Rs 2 a kg rice scheme, is going a step further to take steam out of the main Opposition. The ministers in the Rajasekhar Reddy Cabinet are now showering encomiums on Telugu Desam founder-president and former Chief Minister late N T Rama Rao, describing him as the champion of the poor and a man of principles.

Minister for Housing Botsa Satyanarayana went to the extent of saying that by introducing Rs 2 a kg rice scheme in 1983, NTR heralded a new chapter in the food security in the country and proved himself to be a man of the masses. He said that the present Telugu Desam is no way related to the NTR's party, as present TD president N Chandrababu Naidu had backstabbed his father in law and diluted the latter's populist schemes. "We are bringing back the glorious era of NTR by reviving the Rs 2 a kg rice scheme," he said, in a television interview. So did Roads and Buildings Minister T Jeevan Reddy. He also described NTR as the real leader and a crusader against the poverty.

The Congress leaders are trying to cash in on the image of NTR, which is still a vote-catching thing. By reviving the Rs 2 a kg rice scheme and praising NTR, they are outsmarting the TD!!

Babu does an NTR in House boycott

Former Chief Minister and Opposition Leader in the Assembly N Chandrababu Naidu tries to imitate every trick of his father-in-law N T Rama Rao to be in the news and get the publicity.
On Tuesday, Naidu adopted the same trick NTR followed when he was the Opposition leader between 1989 and 1994 – of boycotting the Assembly proceedings. Naidu announced that he would be boycotting the Assembly proceedings for the next and last three days of the monsoon session in protest against the pungent remarks made by Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy against him. He is trying to create an impression that he was deeply hurt by YSR's comments, personally denigrating him and his mother. Obviously, Naidu did not want to face the uncomfortable situation, if there is a debate in the Assembly on Obulapuram issue, as it would thoroughly expose his role in granting the mining lease. Hence, he decided to avoid the proceedings of the Assembly and at the same, be in the news.
When NTR was the Opposition leader, he, too, boycotted the Assembly proceedings in protest against the ill-treatment meted out to him by the then Vijayabhaskara Reddy government. Then, the entire show in the Assembly was handled by Chandrababu Naidu, who behaved as de facto Opposition leader. Now that Naidu himself chose to stay away from the proceedings, who would play his earlier role? Perhaps, Devender Goud might take the mantle.