TDP chief, Chandrababu Naidu has the image of a suave and composed politician and is known for not making over-the-top comments like Delhi CM Kejriwal or the West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee. But this time, at a crucial juncture, he seems to have lost his cool. Prime Minister Modi has been successful in exposing Chandrababu Naidu’s dark side. An irked Chandrababu Naidu dragged Prime Minister Modi’s wife in his political battle with PM Modi. Such a meltdown is the characteristic of the fringe left liberal leaders or politicians like the Delhi CM who seek cheap publicity.
PM Modi, in a rally yesterday, took a dig at Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and attacked his politics of nepotism. PM Modi said that Chandrababu had promised to make the “sunrise” in Andhra Pradesh but he was stuck on making his “son rise”. PM Modi also said that Chandrababu had promised to start new programmes for the poor, but he appears to be engaged only in putting stickers on PM Modi’s programmes. The Prime Minister also took a jibe at Naidu by referring him as “father of Lokesh” during the rally at Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. It is relevant to mention here that Nara Lokesh, who is the son of the TDP supremo, Chandrababu Naidu is the Cabinet Minister for Information Technology, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development in Andhra Pradesh. PM Modi, therefore, accused Naidu of encouraging politics of nepotism and working for the benefit of only his son, Nara Lokesh. To the dismay of Naidu, PM Modi did not stop here and went on to attack him by claiming that Naidu backstabbed his father-in-law and TDP founder, NT Rama Rao. The prime minister slamming the TDP chief, said, “Naidu had said he would follow NTR’s footsteps, but is he really doing so. NTR had fought for a Congress-free India. Mukt-Congress has now become dost-Congress (friend of Congress) for Naidu.”
Naidu could not take this criticism fairly and retaliated with a jibe at PM Modi’s wife. The Andhra Pradesh CM said, “I don’t usually make personal attacks, but Modi is now forcing me to do so with his comments. He speaks about bringing about a triple talaq law to help Muslim women abandoned by their husbands, but he has no answer if anybody asks him about his own wife, Yashoda Ben.” Andhra Pradesh CM has only insulted the victims of Triple Talaq by drawing an absurd and senseless analogy. Continuing his counter-attack at PM Modi, Naidu added, “You have estranged your wife. Do you have any respect in the family system?” CM Naidu also said, “Yes Lokesh is my son. I am proud of my family — as husband of Bhuvaneswari, father of Lokesh and grandfather of Devansh. Modi would not understand as he doesn’t value family life. Though he is married, he ignored his wife and did not even give her a divorce.”
Naidu clearly looked bad by dragging Prime Minister Modi’s wife in his political battle with PM Modi. Moreover, there is a difference between PM Modi taking a dig at Naidu for encouraging nepotism and working only towards the rise of his son, Lokesh and Naidu’s act of unnecessarily dragging PM Modi’s wife in a political battle. While Naidu’s son is actively involved in politics, PM Modi’s wife is not a politician. She does not have an active political career and people like Naidu must refrain from dragging her in political debates. Moreover, PM Modi and his wife don’t stay together, they never had an association and it is rather disgusting on the part of Naidu to attack PM Modi by referring to his wife. PM Modi has shrewdly exposed the carefully concealed dark side of Chandrababu Naidu. It is clear that Chandrababu Naidu is no different from his allies in the grand coalition, he was only cautious enough to hide this trait of his personality which now stands exposed.