Hyderabad: It is common to see autorickshaw drivers prowling our railway stations and bus stands and quarrelling with each other for passengers. On Wednesday, Congress and Telugu Desam MPs exposed the state to ridicule in the glare of national television by squabbling for the ownership of pilgrims to be flown back home from disaster-hit Uttarakhand.
Taking the phrase ‘competitive politics’ to a new low, Telugu Desam MPs Ramesh Rathod and K. Narayana Rao, and senior Congress MP V. Hanumantha Rao cussed at each other, jostled and almost came to blows.
This shocking incident happened in the presence of Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, Union and state ministers Balaram Naik, D. Sridhar Babu and N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and scores of survivors, who were ready to board the flights arranged by both the state government and the Telugu Desam.
The two parties have been shamelessly trying to upstage each other in showing concern for the Char Dham survivors. Both have organised special flights to bring back survivors stranded at Dehradun and Delhi airports.
After coming to know that the state government had arranged a special flight from Dehradun to Hyderabad on Wednesdayevening, Naidu chartered a private aircraft from Dehradun to transport the survivors directly to Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.
TD leaders led by Naidu and state government ministers and MPs reached the Dehradun airport at the same time to en-sure the survivors were diverted to their respective aircraft.
Survivors got boarding passes from both parties
Both Congress and Telugu Desam leaders on Wednesday began distributing boarding passes at the Dehradun airport and asked passengers to travel by their flights. So great was the confusion that the survivors got boarding passes distributed by both groups.
Congress MP Hanumantha Rao spotted Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu in the airport lounge and told him: “You have been Chief Minister for nine years, is this any way to behave? Why should you indulge in competitive politics here? We can settle scores in the state.”
This prompted TD Lok Sabha members Ramesh Rathod (Adilabad) and Konakalla Narayana Rao (Machilipatnam) to come up to Hanumantha Rao and demand, “What is wrong with you? Why are you doing all this tamasha? Why are you obstructing us?”A scuffle ensued among the three MPs who also used abusive words. Airp-ort security staff had to be called in to separate the agitated MPs.
To add to the drama, some of the passengers who were TD supporters, shouted slogans of “Chandrababu Naidu zindabad! Chandrababu Nayak-atvam Vardhillali (Glory to Naidu’s leadership)!”
Finally both flights left Dehradun airport with dozens of passengers each.
Such unseemly scenes were also witnessed earlier at the Andhra Ashramam at Rishikesh from where the survivors were to board buses to travel to Dehradun airport. Here, too, separate buses were arranged by the TD and the government and quarrels broke out about which buses the survivors should board.
Speaking to the media immediately after the brawl, Naidu said: “It is really unfortunate what happened today. It is only when the state government failed to provide relief and food to victims that the Telugu Desam decided to do something for them. We arranged a special flight from Delhi and transported the victims to their native places. The government somehow did not like that and started obstructing us. Even yesterday the government objected to the medical camp being run by the Telugu Desam in AP Bhavan in Delhi.”
He said the TD had arranged a flight from Dehradun to Visakhapatnam, but the government had only arranged a flight to Hyderabad. He alleged that the Congress MPs and ministers waylaid the bus carrying the survivors from relief camps to Dehradun airport and ‘kidnapped’ the driver.
Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said “What the TD is doing not a service. They want to do politics. The flight arranged by the government was ready to take off, but their aircraft was not ready. So why should they (the TD) prevent the victims from boarding the (government) flight? When the government is doing everything for the victims, it is for the Telugu Desam to cooperate and not interfere. How can TD MPs ask victims not to board the government flight and board the flight arranged by them?"
Minister D. Sridhar Babu called it an ‘unfortunate and shameful incident’. He too said that the TD was obstructing the government. “It is not an affair of the Congress; it was a government activity. How can they bring politics and competition here? When Hanumantha Rao only said don’t do politics and don’t obstruct victims, TD MPs came and abused him. Ours is a government job, theirs is a party job, that is the only difference.”
Hanumantha Rao defended himself by saying, “I did not do anything. It is all TD drama before the next general elections. In fact, TD MPs started tearing our boarding passes and started issuing their passes. I only asked Mr Naidu was it proper on his part. I said you are a great national leader, taking credit for selecting Prime Ministers and have been a Chief Minister for nine years. Why should you come to the airport and do all this drama?”
Union minister Balaram Naik said government officials and ministers had come to Dehradun first and were supervising all the activity and the TD came today and 'indulged in political dramas'.