NewsTAP exclusive: Chandrababu Naidu, Revanth Reddy meet for 2 hrs in Begumpet airport. Is BJP aware?

HYDERABAD: Old habits, they say, die hard. After all, old camaraderie was in works on Thursday.

Congress Chief Minister of Telangana A Revanth Reddy and his ‘guru’, by his own admission and proclamation, and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Nara Chandrababu Naidu reportedly met at the Begumpet airport in Hyderabad and were closeted for two hours between 3.30 pm and 5.30 pm. Though photography was reportedly barred, their meeting had generated intrigue and curiosity.

What happened was neither unthinkable nor was it unexpected.

The news of their meeting, however, was not out in public domain. But sources confirmed the same to NewsTAP on Friday morning.

The Telangana Chief Minister was on his way to Delhi and attended the meeting of the crucial Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress to finalise candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Though Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka; and CEC member and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy also went to Delhi on March 7, Bhatti Vikramarka went in the morning as he had appointments with Union Ministers.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, however, went along with the Chief Minister in a special aircraft.

Chandrababu Naidu went to Delhi on a different mission in a different chartered plane. He went and called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the entry of the TDP into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and also seat-sharing arrangement with him. Naidu and Jana Sena president met Amit Shah together late on Thursday evening.

However, Pawan Kalyan went to Delhi separately in a special aircraft along with businessman Lingamaneni Ramesh.

What transpired between Revanth Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu surely becomes politically significant.

Also Read: Revanth Reddy espouses TDP cause, defends protests for his ‘boss’ Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad

The paradox here is that the Congress Chief Minister meeting his guru who had embarked on a mission to hobnob with the BJP to negotiate a possible alliance.

The BJP and the Congress are two diametrically opposite political parties and are leading two different political formations - the NDA and the I.N.D.I.A bloc.

The big question now is how could the two leaders, with allegiances to parties that are politically antagonistic to each other in a politically charged up situation across the country, meet?

Also Read: Naidu’s tacit support to Revanth Reddy rattles Reddies of Telangana Congress

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana has always been allerging that Revanth Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu have been in league with each other. And, not just that, they also say Revanth Reddy’s policies and actions are a replica of what Chandrababu Naidu has always done.

Revanth Reddy had inducted many into the Congress in Telangana from his political alma mater, the TDP. Minister Seethakka and MLA Chada Suresh Reddy, his advisor Vem Narender Reddy are just cases in point.

Chandrababu Naidu always extended his “blessings” to Revanth Reddy at every stage, “overtly or covertly”, ever since Revanth Reddy had crossed over to the Telangana Congress by resigning as the president of Telangana unit of the TDP.

One may recall that Revanth Reddy had waxed eloquent on Naidu on many an occasion, especially at Palakurthi during his campaign squarely holding then minister and BRS leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao for the downfall of the TDP in Telangana. Revanth Reddy expressed this lament, even though he was the Telangana PCC president.

Also Read: TPCC or TDPCC? Revanth Reddy runs Telangana Congress as an extension of TDP

The YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh has always been cardinally opposed to Revanth Reddy. In fact, Revanth Reddy in an “Open Heart” talk show in his friend’s Telugu news channel sulked that he wasn’t even greeted over phone by his Andhra Pradesh counterpart and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

He suddenly became friendly with Jagan’s sister Y S Sharmila who folded up her party, YSR Telangana Party, and appeared in Andhra Pradesh in an new avatar of the president of AP Congress Committee.

Ever since, their public display of friendship was awkwardly glaring. Sharmila, not too long ago, had called Revanth Reddy a thief (‘donga’).

Hailing from the family of Naidu’s sworn enemies, Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and then Y S Jagan, she had surprised everyone by demonstrating her bonhomie with Naidu by going to his residence and inviting him for her son’s wedding.

In the raging controversy over the murder case of Jagan’s paternal uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy, the TDP supremo is openly supporting Dr Y S Sunita, daughter of Vivekananda Reddy. She has been acknowledging Naidu’s support to her.

Against these developments, can’t one connect the political dots in what could have transpired between Chandrababu Naidu and Revanth Reddy?

Is the BJP aware of this obnoxious connection? Does this meeting of Revanth and Naidu have the BJP’s endorsement or is it a surprise to the top echelons of the BJP? Perhaps, they are caught unawares.