Former Member of Parliament K. P. Reddaiah on Saturday denied that he had any plans to join the YSR Congress. In a hurriedly convened press meet at the State Guest House here, following television scrolling by local channels on his possible drift towards the YSR Congress Party based on the fact that he met Sharmila during her Maro Praja Prasthanam padayatra in the region, he sought to set the record straight.
The former MP called the meeting a mere coincidence. “Sharmila, as you all know, is on a padayatra covering this region. Today morning I just happened to pass by that route. Keeping in view my close association with former chief minister and Ms. Sharmila’s father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, I only exchanged pleasantries and blessed the young girl working hard to drum up support for her brother’s party. It is the Press that distorted the facts,” he maintained. Asked if the hurriedly conducted press meet was a damage-control exercise done at the behest of his son and Secondary Education Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy, he firmly denied it, adding that he was not even on talking terms with his son. Asked to comment on the existing power crisis in the State, Mr. Reddaiah blamed former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu.
“Former chief ministers N. Janardhan Reddy, K. Rosaiah and Naidu are culprits. The seed of the power crisis was sown during Chandrababu Naidu’s rule in the State when he caused immense damage to power sector in the name of fast track power projects,” he said. When asked to comment on sand mafia active in the district, he alleged that Machilipatnam MP Konakalla Narayana and Pamarru MLA D.Y. Das were receiving huge kickbacks from those involved in illegal quarrying.
