Naidu tries a bit of reverse swing

Just days after concluding his 2,800-km padayatra, former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has begun a campaign to pay back TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who encouraged defections from the Telugu Desam, in his own coin. First off, the TD has opened the doors to its leaders who had migrated to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.

The first acquisition was Chada Suresh Reddy, a former TD MP, elected twice from Warangal, who is believed to have contacted Mr Naidu and expressed his desire to rejoin the party. The TD chief has agreed.

When this news reached the TRS, Mr Rao expelled Mr Suresh Reddy and another former TD member, Mekala Sarangapani, from the party for “anti-party activities”.

Mr Sambaiah, the TD candidate from Warangal in 2009, and Mr Mekala Sarangapani have also decided to return to the TD.

TRS insiders say Mr Suresh Reddy, who joined the TRS in 2010, has not been active in the party. Though he was tipped to be the TRS’s Lok Sabha candidate from Malkajgiri, he has kept a low profile. He took no part in the Gadapa Gadapaku Telang- ana programme launched by the TRS chief himself recently.

His close associates, however, say that Mr Suresh Reddy’s discontent stems from the fact that after promising him the Malkajgiri seat, Mr Rao backtracked and offered it to someone else.

“I will formally announce my decision to join the TD in the next few days. This is not the way KCR should treat party leaders. He is not interested in Telangana; he is only interested in collection of funds for himself,” Mr Suresh Reddy told this correspondent.