India’s Chandrababu Naidu bursts into tears, vows to stay away from Assembly
Veteran politician ‘visibly pained’ over personal attack on his wife
Hyderabad: Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and President of the main opposition Telugu Desam Party, N. Chandrababu Naidu, shocked everyone by breaking down during live telecast of his media conference in Vijayawada.
Naidu, 71, who had ruled undivided Andhra Pradesh for a decade, followed by five-year stint as the Chief Minister of bifurcated state, burst into tears and continued to sob for a considerable period of time after walking out of the State Legislative Assembly session in protest against personal attacks and unsavoury remarks against his wife by the ruling YSR Congress party.
The visibly pained Leader of Opposition also announced he will not step into the Assembly till he throws out Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy government from power in the next elections.
Such a scene was unprecedented in the four-decade career of Naidu, even as the level of political exchanges in the state have touched a new low in recent times. Slurs were hurled at Naidu’s wife Bhuvaneswari by ruling party legislator D. Chandrasekhar Reddy, despite Speaker D. Sitaram’s pleas for silence.
“I have been bearing insults and atrocities of the ruling party for the last two and a half years. I cannot bear more as they even targeted my wife Bhuvaneswari with derogatory comments. My wife never interfered with political matters,” Naidu said.
The scene of a strong political leader bursting into tears evoked emotionally charged reactions from the Naidu’s family members and TDP cadres.
While party leaders and workers came on the streets to protest against YSR Congress, Bhuvaneswari’s brothers, actors Balakrishna and Rama Krishna and others strongly condemned the attacks on her. “If anybody targets our family members, we will not keep quiet,” said Balakrishna.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy made a counter allegation that it was Chandrababu Naidu who started personal attacks on others. Denying allegations that any YSRCP member had made any insulting remarks, Jagan said that they were only retorting to the allegations of Naidu. “Naidu is frustrated by TDP’s successive poll defeats”, he said.