Motkupalli Attacks Nagam Over Yatra

Criticizing his party colleague Nagam Janardhan Reddy's statement that he (Nagam) would work for Telangana rather than campaign for the party candidate for the by-elections in Kadapa district, Telugu Desam Party MLA Motkupalli Narasimhulu on Saturday said that if the party leadership orders any member to campaign, they must obey without a murmur.

"Mr. Janardhan Reddy should not have said that he would prefer working for Telangana rather than campaign. This sends a wrong message to the party cadre," he told media persons at the TDLP on Saturday.

Reacting to a report carried by a section of the media that Reddy had allegedly 'advised' party president N Chandrababu Naidu to make his stand on Telangana clear first before concentrating on the Kadapa by-polls, Narasimhulu said that if this news report was true, it was utterly condemnable. "How can such a senior leader, that too someone who had served as a minister, say such things?" he wondered.

He also said that the Janardhan Reddy had announced the 'bus yatra' across the Telangana region without taking the party's MLAs into confidence. He said that that Reddy's decision was unilateral, and Narasimhulu himself had no knowledge about the proposed yatra.

"However, if the party leadership instructs the Telangana MLAs to take part in the bus yatra, we will do so," Narasimhulu asserted.

It is no secret that Narasimhulu has been waging an intense battle with Reddy to be seen as the TDP face of Telangana. Narasimhulu was earlier projected to replace Janardhan Reddy as the Telangana Telugu Desam Party Forum convenor.

Their rivalry has intensified after Reddy was named the Public Accounts Committee chairman. (INN)