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BJP attacks Revanth Reddy over old 'Telangana DNA better than...' remark amid North-South debate
Revanth Reddy said KCR's DNA was from Bihar and that's why inferior to his Telangana DNA. The comment was made before the election.
Amid a North versus South debate that was triggered after the Congress lost in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and won in Telangana, BJP leaders shared a recent media interaction of Telangana CM-designate Revanth Reddy where he said his DNA belonged to Telangana and KCR's was to Bihar. "Telangana DNA is better than Bihar DNA," Revanth Reddy said at a media conclave ahead of the election. As Revanth Reddy is now all set to take oath as the chief minister, the old comment resurfaced, courtesy of BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala and IT cell chief Amit Malviya.
"KCR's DNA belongs to Bihar. KCR's caste is Kurmi. Kurmis are from Bihar. They migrated from Bihar to Vizianagaram and from there to Telangana. My DNA is from Telangana. Telangana DNA is better than Bihar DNA," Revanth Reddy said at the media conclave. "CM designate Revanth Reddy says Telangana DNA is better than Bihar, Kurmi (OBC) DNA. Do @NitishKumar @yadavtejashwi @laluprasadrjd agree? If not when will they break their alliance with Congress or atleast demand that an OBC is made CM," Shehzad wrote.
“Meet Revanth Reddy, Congress’s CM elect, who thinks KCR is of inferior DNA, presumably because he is a Kurmi from Bihar, who migrated to Telangana…Nitish Kumar, a Kurmi, and part of the I.N.D.I Alliance, should ask the Congress to clarify if they think he is of inferior DNA?” Amit Malviya wrote.
The debate started on Sunday as the results were declared and Congress leader Praveen Chakravarty posted a tweet saying that the south-north boundary line was getting 'thicker and clearer'. The tweet was immediately deleted as it received backlash but the debate went on with many social media posts scorning North Indians for voting for the BJP and then migrating to the southern states for jobs.
The South versus North debate did not evade the attention of BJP's top leadership. PM Modi on Tuesday made a post on his X account warning against 'their divisive agenda'.
"May they be happy with their arrogance, lies, pessimism and ignorance. But... Beware of their divisive agenda. An old habit of 70 years can't go away so easily. Also, such is the wisdom of the people that they have to be prepared for many more meltdowns ahead," PM Modi tweeted.
The North-South debate did not remain confined to social media as DMK MP Senthil Kumar used an objectionable epithet to describe North India as he harped on the issue that BJP was only winning elections mainly in the Hindi heartland. The comment was later expunged from the records of the Lok Sabha and the MP clarified that he did not mean to hurt by his comment.
