'Jhootha Cup insult' poster at Naidu dharna spot not by our party, says TDP's Jayadev Galla, hitting out at the PM over his Andhra Pradesh visit nonetheless

TDP MP Jayadeva Galla said that the crude 'Jhootha Cup-Chaiwala' placard at AP CM Chandrababu Naidu's dharna spot in New Delhi hadn't been placed there by his party-members, when Republic TV asked him about it shortly after the poster had been removed following a controversy breaking out.

"The posters are not put up by the party, I'll have to take a look, if anything is there we'll remove it," Galla said, backed by his party-members who were carrying a different series of posters taking on the Prime Minister, not attacking him personally. The earlier poster, placed in a symbolically important place at Andhra Bhawan where Naidu is holding his day-long fast and dharna, had said, "जिसके हाथ में चाय का झूठा कप देना था, उसके हाथ में जनता ने देश दे दिया।" - translates to 'the one whose hand in which a used cup should have been given, in his hands the country has been given.'

While Galla went on to denounce the poster in question and personal attacks in general, saying "We don't endorse such personal attacks, neither our CM nor I", he counter-accused the Prime Minister of using personal attacks against Chandrababu Naidu. 

Attacking Narendra Modi first over the intricacies of the Special Category status for Andhra Pradesh issue, over which Naidu's party quit the NDA and is today holding a dharna, Galla said, "One thing you need to keep in mind, yesterday PM Modi came all the way to Guntur - to my constituency - he didn't answer a single question about rights of Andhra Pradesh, why they've been denied, when they'll be delivered, how much will be delivered. 

He elaborated, "He (Modi) gave some very loose statements, that we gave Rs 3 lakh crore to Andhra Pradesh, but that includes devolution of funds that is to come to us as our right, we're not talking about the money we're to get by the devolution of funds and Finance Commission recommendations, we're talking about the promises made and assurances given in AP reorganisation act...", at which point he burst forth, "And he (the PM) came all the way to Amaravati just to criticise our Chief Minister?" 

Galla added, "He spent the whole time making personal attacks our CM, he didn't talk about what we want to hear, so he needs to correct himself also."

Earlier, the BJP had raised strong objection to the placard, with Gaurav Bhatia telling Republic TV that the renewed 'Chaiwala' attack "only reflects the sick mindset of the Opposition and it was started by the Congress and has spread to other parties."

"They're not insulting only a hardworking and honest PM Modi, but they're also insulting every Indian who believes that he can rise up the ladder by hard work and honesty. All these parties believe in dynastic politics, therefore they don't understand the importance of hard work".  

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted a video of the poster as well:

A number of leaders apart from Chandrababu Naidu have spoken at the dharna. Farooq Abdullah, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress president Rahul Gandhi chief among them.