Harikrishna fumes over being sidelined in party

HYDERABAD: The rift between the TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and his brother-in-law N Harikrishna came to the fore once again when the latter tried to give pinpricks to the TDP boss for not inviting him to the second round of Praja Garjana public meetings of the party, being organised across Seemandhra.

A few hours before the meeting at Tirupati, Harikrishna hit out at Naidu saying he had not been invited to the Praja Garjana meet. 'I have not got any invitation. Perhaps, I am being ignored by the party leadership because of my Samaikyandhra stance,' he said here.

It is an open secret that Harikrishna has been on the collision course with the TDP boss for the last few months ever since Naidu started to project his son Lokesh as his political heir.

As Harikrishna reportedly wants a key role for his son and film actor NTR Jr, Lokesh's foray into politics has reportedly annoyed him. Since then, the TDP founder's son has been trying to annoy Naidu whenever he gets an opportunity.

For instance, Harikrishna 'questioned' the two-eyes policy of Naidu by resigning from the membership of Rajya Sabha after the Congress Working Committee's decision to bifurcate the State.

When Naidu was embarked on his Atma Gourava Yatra in Seemandhra after the CWC decision, Harikrishna too planned a similar yatra to tell people that he was opposing state division. However, he dropped this proposal later.

At that time he had written an open letter to the people of the state on Samaikyandhra 'criticising' the two-eyes policy being adopted by Naidu on the T-issue.

The internal differences between Naidu and Harikrishna hit the headlines when TDP politburo member KE Krishna Murthy, a close aide of the TDP boss, had come down heavily on Harikrishna for resigning from the Rajya Sabha saying Harikrishna's resignation was orchestrated by his sister and Union minister D Purandeswari.

Another recent example of Harikrishna's efforts to make Naidu uncomfortable was his attack on the BJP for its stance on bifurcation, exactly a day after the TDP boss had attended the swearing-in ceremony of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Dec 15 and interacted with the BJP top brass in Bhopal.

As if he was trying to upset the plans of Naidu to forge an electoral alliance with the BJP in the run-up to the general polls, at that time, Harikrishna lashed out at the saffron party for backing bifurcation of AP.

Naidu all praise for NTR

On a day when Harikrishna hurled indirect criticism at him, party chief N Chandrababu Naidu has departed from his earlier habit of making only a brief mention of TDP founder NTR at party public meetings. While addressing the Praja Garjana in Tirupati, Naidu devoted much of his speech to praise NTR to the skies, probably not giving chance for his brother-in-law to claim the party founder's legacy.

Stating that he had learnt discipline and several good values from NTR, Naidu said, 'NTR had waged an unrelenting battle against corruption throughout his life. I am also following in his footsteps now.'

Drawing a parallel between him and the late NTR, the TDP boss went on saying, 'If NTR is the symbol of Telugu pride, I made Telugus move forward with self-confidence during my regime.'