G Ranjith Reddy lets down K. Chandrasekhar Rao

Hyderabad: After the encounter of the four accused in the Disha gang rape and murder, the anger of the people against the police as well as Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao dissapated; overnight they were feted by a majority of people for a bold decision in delivering instant justice, though those who opposed the police encounter have decided to brace for a long legal fight against the action.

The public memory, after an initial bout of fury and outrage against home minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali, who instead of condemning the heinous act and showing sympathy for the family of the victim gave a lecture on how she erred in calling her sister instead of dialling 100, has become dormant.

But the one man who is still reeling from a huge backlash against him for a misplaced attempt to get national publicity and ended up not only with an egg on his face but also making Mr Chandrasekhar Rao look terrible in front of a nation eager to know is Dr Gaddam Ranjith Reddy, member of Lok Sabha, Chevella.

Dr Ranjith Reddy caused the TRS high command terrible embarrassment while participating in a TV debate on a national channel, soon after the brutal rape and murder of Disha and people in his party are now baying for his blood.

Though Dr Reddy, a first time MP, was enthusiastic about participation and perhaps eager to show his face to the nation during a TV debate on such a hot topic, his absolutely tongue-tied responses, his total lack of articulation and a disastrous performance when he was not even able to complete one sentence has left everybody in the party, and his constituency, very upset.

Dr Ranjith Reddy, a businessman-turned-politician who was lucky to scrape through in the Lok Sabha elections despite being an outsider to Chevella, could not utter a single answer to the barrage of questions unleashed by the prominent anchor with regard to the state government’s stand on crimes against woman, or the failure of the police in protecting her. He was clueless about his own home minister’s statement on such an important topic.

When, the anchor specifically questioned Dr Ranjith Reddy about “why Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has not made a statement on the ghastly incident?” the MP stared at the screen in feeble silence, unable to give any rely.

In the nearly an hour-long debate on the television regarding the Disha incident, Dr Ranjith Reddy ‘repaid’ his debt to his party and leader through tonnes of embarrassing moments, turning both party leaders as well as cadre against him.

His debating performance led to intense trolling on social media where furious netizens pulled up the TRS and state government for their inaction to protect women. Now that it has silenced its critics, the debate in TRS circles is back to why was Dr Ranjith Reddy allowed to participate in a TV debate.

“He is not a serious politician to begin with — just an industrialist who got a ticket and won. He can’t speak. Why did he have to go on TV? No one cares what he does but how dare he keep quiet when our leader KCR garu was being questioned so harshly by the anchor,” said a TRS leader. Some TRS MPs, during private talks, said that they had no clue whether Dr Ranjith Reddy participated in the debate after taking permission from party high command or went ahead on his own. Meanwhile, other party sources revealed that K.T. Rama Rao, TRS working president, had questioned the MP about his participation in the debate and the circumstances that led him to attend the debate on this TV channel.