VIJAYAWADA: A Zoom meeting convened by TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh to interact with students, who failed in the SSC exams, and their parents, had two uninvited guests. Former Minister and Gudivada YSRC MLA Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao (Nani) and Gannavaram TDP MLA Vallabhaneni Vamshi, who is associated with the YSRC, unexpecedly logged in to attend the meeting.
While Nani came on the screen after the organisers invited a boy to interact with Lokesh, Vamshi appeared in the place of a girl student who had registered to attend. This led to a war of words between YSRC and TDP leaders. The TDP took strong exception to the “illegal” entry of the YSRC leaders in its Zoom conference. What will Kodali Nani do in such a meeting as he did not even pass 10th class, the TDP leaders asked.
Accusing the YSRC leaders of attending the meeting to create disturbance, Lokesh said as people were banging them during the ‘Gadapa Gadapaki Prabhutvam’ programme, the YSRC leaders came into the virtual conference under the guise of students. They could do nothing to me even if they come directly and what they could do by attending the Zoom conference? he asked and sought an explanation from the government on the suicide of over 10 SSC students after the declaration of results.
While the former minister entered the conference in the name of a boy, Karthik Krishna, the MLA appeared on the screen in the name of Navya Thota. “It’s a shame,” Lokesh said. TDP State President K Atchannaidu said the ruling YSRC leaders had played a dangerous game with over two lakh students who had failed in the exams. Over 10 students have committed suicide, unable to accept their fate. When Lokesh tried to do justice to the students and parents, the YSRC leaders tried to disrupt the Zoom meeting, he alleged.
However, YSRC leaders defended their action saying that they participated in the Zoom meeting to question the “immoral politics” of Lokesh.Accusing Lokesh of provoking the students to take extreme steps, Nani said they participated in the conference to present the facts. However, the TDP leader cut the live conference as he had no courage to answer our questions, he said. “I wanted to pose some questions to Lokesh as he arranged the Zoom conference to provoke the failed students.
In fact, the same Lokesh and his father Chandrababu Naidu and other TDP and Janasena leaders as well as a section of the media opposed the decision to conduct classes after decline in the number of Covid cases last year,” Nani pointed out.Stating that he logged into the Zoom conference to present facts about the SSC exams and refute the allegations against the government, MLA Vamshi said a large number of students failed in the exams because of Covid.