Chittoor MP justifies his outbursts against Babu

​Tirupati: The internal bickering in the ruling TDP reached a flash point with its Chittoor MP N Siva Prasad expressing his displeasure over party chief and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu holding teleconference with party leaders on Saturday on his open remarks against government ignoring Dalits.

Much to the embarrassment of the ruling party, Siva Prasad, who fired the first salvo at an official commemorative meeting held in Chittoor on Ambedkar Jayanti on Friday, stuck to his gun and also made revelations projecting Naidu as well as the Chittoor district administration in a bad light, deepening the rift in the party.

The open defiance of Siva Prasad, a senior leader belonging to Schedule Castes, came as shock to TDP leadership while the political pundits are weighing impact of the dissidence in the ruling party in Naidu’s home district.

However, the outburst of Siva Prasad, who has also close relations with party supremo Naidu, as his childhood pal and later as party minister and MP, was not triggered by any one episode, but the culmination of a series of happenings that ultimately saw the MP coming out in the open against his party.

Siva Prasad on several occasions was openly critical of district administration, for the past two years, after his recommendations were not entertained and was aggrieved when the party supremo, who is from the district, failed to take note of his differences with the district administration, chiefly, with the collector.

It is learnt that party chief was not happy with Siva Prasad and was wary of the MP taking interest in the land matters related to a religious institution. The gap between him and party president widened when Naidu failed to give an appointment when he came to meet him at his residence at Undavalli, six month ago after attending state-level party meeting.

The dominance of the party MLAs in his Parliamentary constituency coupled with the recent appointment of N Amarnath Reddy as minister, without taking him into confidence, added salt to injury and served as a proverbial last straw, leading to the MP venting his ire openly.

Further, Amarnath Reddy becoming minister naturally worried Siva Prasad more as he fear that the former with his position and influence, will eclipse him in the coming days, prompting him to express his dissident against the party and government open, say party sources.