TDP leader Nara Lokesh launched a sharp digital counter-attack against senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, demanding he remove a viral post that claimed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman faced heavy heckling during a public event in Andhra Pradesh's Rayalaseema. The controversy ignited after a clip circulated on social media, showing the Finance Minister speaking amidst loud chanting. The original post alleged that the crowd demanded jobs and forced Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to intervene to maintain order, a narrative Ramesh amplified on X by stating, "the Finance Minister herself is seeing how much anger there is among the public."
Lokesh rejected the narrative entirely, labeling it a "fabricated" distortion of a normal interaction. He stated that local youth expressing their desire for employment were part of an enthusiastic gathering, not a hostile crowd. "A normal interaction... was clipped, twisted and given a made-up narrative," Lokesh said. He emphasized that no disruption occurred, directly contradicting the claim that CM Naidu had to stand up to silence the people.
Addressing Ramesh directly, Lokesh invoked the senior leader's stature as a reason for greater responsibility. "A leader of his seniority and experience should verify facts before posting," Lokesh wrote. The TDP chief’s tone was unequivocal, ending with a command: "Deliberate misinformation is not on. Delete the lie."
The incident underscores the intense political friction in Andhra Pradesh, where the ruling TDP-NCP alliance frequently accuses the Congress of manufacturing crises through unverified social media content. While the Finance Minister's visit to Rayalaseema was part of a broader regional outreach, the digital spat shifts focus to the credibility of the opposition's fact-checking mechanisms. Watch for Congress leadership to either issue a retraction or double down on the claim, potentially escalating the pre-poll rhetoric in the state.