Revanth Reddy feels embarrassed, eats his own words about political inheritance

HYDERABAD: It is better to bite your tongue than to eat your words. After all, beware of your tongue, as it is in a wet place. It can slip any time.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had to eat his own words at the birth anniversary of former Speaker of the Assembly of the undivided Andhra Pradesh the late Duddilla Sripada Rao.

Referring to the son of Sripada Rao and IT Minister Sridhar Babu, the Chief Minister had to talk about the legacy his Cabinet colleague Sridhar Babu had inherited.

Before taking the reference, it occurred to Revanth Reddy that he has always been derisively commenting about Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) that he had come in “management quota.”

The Chief Minister meant that KTR had become whatever he had become was because he's the son of KCR.

What Revanth Reddy had conveniently forgotten was that Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, in a way Chandrababu Naidu, Nandamuri Balakrishna, Nara Lokesh, YS Jagan, YS Sharmila and so on up to Mynampalli Rohith are all from management quota in Revanth Reddy’s parlance.

In fact, though not so much, Revanth Reddy too must owe his rise in politics to his wife and her relationship with the late S Jaipal Reddy.

So, whether he should be talking about political inheritance or not is left to the judgement of people.

Well, though this day was not unexpected, it came too early for the Chief Minister to eat his own words. It’s too late for him to bite his tongue.

In a repentant tone, he said: “I have referred to some people sarcastically that they have come in management quota. But legacy is useful only for the first time. Though Sridhar Babu is the son of former Speaker, he had to take upon the onus under unexpected circumstances. But, later he proved to be a merit student and served as a minister even in the undivided Andhra Pradesh.”

In fact, KTR himself had said many a time that being the son of a senior politician served as an entry pass for him to take the plunge. And, maybe it had helped him to get elected for the first time. But, unless a person was meritorious enough, people would not rally behind him or her from the second election onwards. He has always been cautious with his words. He knows, after all, tongue is in a wet place and can slip, which the Chief Minister never factored in so far.

People in public life are used to tongue-lashing. But, they should know there would be a day when they would have to eat their own words.