Vijayawada: Telugu Desam leader and Rajya Sabha MP T.G. Venkatesh’s comment regarding a pact between the TD and the Jana Sena, who are rivals otherwise, created a flutter on Wednesday. There were angry reactions from both TD president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena supremo Pawan Kalyan.
Mr Naidu distanced himself from the comments, saying it was Mr Venkatesh’s personal opinion.
Mr Venkatesh had earlier told reporters that there was nothing wrong in the TD and Jana Sena tying up and leaders from both parties were open to it. He wished that the Jana Sena and TD come together before the upcoming polls, and cited the example of how arch rivals in Uttar Pradesh, the SP and BSP, had joined hands to defeat the BJP.
He said there were no major differences between the parties, but he found fault with the way Mr Naidu had dealt with the Centre initially, not fighting it on realising implementation of bifurcation and the Special Category Status.
Reacting to Mr Venkatesh’s comments, Mr Pawan Kalyan, who is touring in Paderu, told the TD MP to “stop talking nonsense”. “If leaders like Venkatesh don’t stop talking nonsense, I will teach him a befitting lesson,” he said.
Mr Naidu issued a warning to Mr Venkatesh, asking him to exercise restraint when issuing public statements, especially his personal opinion. He said such comments only create confusion.
