TDP Disgraced Itself In No-Trust Vote

Kommineni Srinivasa Rao

The Telugu Desam Party announced that it had declared a war on the NDA government through its no-trust vote motion. However, at the end of the day the party and its motion fell flat on their face. None of its speakers—Galla Jayadev, Ramamohan Naidu or Kesineni Srinivas, had anything new to say, but only got the party into further controversies. The only impression one was left with was that Rammohan Naidu spoke in Hindi fluently.

Jayadev is proficient in English but had to speak in a vein that was very different to what Chandrababu Naidu had stated earlier. In what is more embarrassing to him, are images and videos of what he had said earlier in contrast to what he claims now about special package and special status. Kesineni Srinivas had to forego the opportunity of speaking and when he was given one in the end he used it to make some remarks against PM Modi, but could not speak on the subject per se. The motion was then put to vote by the speaker, Sumitra Mahajan.

Pawan Kalyan is therefore, not wrong in describing the TDP MPs’ speeches in the Lok Sabha as purposeless and totally devoid of meaning. Jayadev made an effort to impress, but scored an own goal by referring to a dialogue from his brother-in-law’s popular movie, Bharat Ane Nenu. The dialogue, “How can a man be trusted if he is not true to his word” could well apply to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu though it was intended for PM Modi. Jayadev’s speech, it must be said, lacked a moral thrust.

In the past, Chandrababu Naidu had criticised special category status opting for a special package and questioned leader of opposition YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s understanding of the issue. Chandrababu had even thanked the NDA government saying that the people of AP should be grateful to the Centre.

It was an embarrassing moment for TDP to find its members in Parliament notably, Galla Jayadev parroting YS Jagan’s line. He found himself repeating what the YSRCP chief had been saying all along these four years. Jayadev’s explanation on the U-turn taken by his party on SCS to AP did not sound convincing at all. He should have instead, apologised for his party's U-turn and put forth the TDP line. Instead, he tried to bring up contentious issues on AP and Telangana, which were bound to generate heat and controversy. This was unnecessary and irresponsible. Expectedly, the TRS MPs objected to his remarks.

The TDP’s attempt to create a rift between the people of AP and Telangana in this manner, is inappropriate and regrettable. While Jayadev claimed that the bifurcation of the state was done in an unscientific manner, can he or Chandrababu Naidu deny the fact that the TDP leader had submitted a letter agreeing to the division of the state? Did Chandrababu Naidu ever suggest that the bifurcation of the state should be effected in a particular way? Didn’t Chandrababu say that he would move the bill in the assembly for bifurcation, if it was not done? By criticising bifurcation of the state now, Chandrababu is trying to score points on the sympathy and sentiment scale, for his own political ends, it appears. It remains to be seen whether the TDP MPs will wake up at least now and quit their posts after having lost face completely in the no-trust vote issue.