Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy's diatribe about Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's "Bihari DNA" on Tuesday, March 1, left the party red faced in the Hindi heartland state, where it is battling political marginalisation. Revanth Reddy had attacked the TRS chief for appointing bureaucrats hailing from Bihar to top posts and taking counsel from political strategist Prashant Kishor and claimed that the Telangana CM's ancestors had migrated to the southern province from the eastern state.
The ruling NDA in Bihar was quick to point out that Reddy's remarks came close on the heels of "UP Bihar ke bhaiye" jibe of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, another Congress leader. "The Congress has been, for long, a spent force in Bihar. The behaviour of its leaders elsewhere suggests the worst is yet to come for the party in the state," said Sanjay Kumar Jha, senior JD(U) leader and a close aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Jha, who holds key portfolios in the state cabinet, also said it was "Bihari DNA of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan" that set the stage for the Congress' decline. The RJD of Lalu Prasad, arch rival of the Chief Minister, was also sharply critical of Revanth Reddy.
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari, whose party of late seems to have turned its back on its old alliance with the Congress, demanded an apology from Revanth Reddy. BJP OBC Morcha national general secretary Nikhil Anand, whose party sees the Congress as its principal rival nationally, also came out with scathing criticism of Reddy.
"Recently, Channi made derogatory remarks about Bihar and its people in the presence of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Now the Telangana Congress chief has done something similar. The party's divisive agenda stands exposed," Anand said.
Congress leaders in Bihar had a tough time defending their party. State working president Samir Kumar Singh, who is also an MLC, stressed that "Revanth Reddy was not trying to belittle Bihar. His barbs were aimed at KCR".