E-Paper
YSRCP MP kisses policeman’s boot, his counter to TDP leader who insulted cop
Gorantla Madhav had taken strong exception to the comments of senior TDP leader JC Diwakar Reddy who said he would make the policemen to lick his boots if the TDP came to power again.
YSR Congress party MP Gorantla Madhav on Friday cleaned and kissed the shoes of a policeman who had died on duty to register his unique protest against the alleged unsavoury comments made by former MP and senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader JC Diwakar Reddy.
Madhav, representing Hindupur parliamentary constituency in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district, also announced that he would even resign from his MP seat and join the police department - if permitted by the party high command - to teach a fitting lesson to the TDP leader.
Reddy kicked up a row by saying at a party meeting in Anantapur on Wednesday that he would make the policemen to lick his boots if the TDP came to power again. Taking strong exception to his comments, the Anantapur district police officers’ association threatened to file defamation case against him and prosecute him if he did not tender an unconditional apology to the police.
Madhav, who was an inspector working in Kadiri police station, before quitting his post and getting elected as Lok Sabha member in May this year, said it was unfortunate on the part of Reddy to insult the police forces which toiled day and night to protect the law and order and safeguard the integrity of the country.
“As a mark of protest against Diwakar Reddy, I cleaned and kissed the shoes of a policeman who sacrificed his life while performing his duty in Anantapur. The policemen sacrifice their lives in the process of saving the lives of the people and in protecting the nation’s sovereignty and integrity,” Madhav told Hindustan Times.
He also found fault with TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for keeping silent when his party leader was making derogatory comments against the police forces. “Like Dhrutarashtra who remained blind to his son Duryodhana’s misdeeds in the epic Mahabharat, Naidu is also turning blind to Diwakar Reddy’s highhanded behaviour,” the YSRC MP said.
The former TDP MP, however, defended his “boot-licking” comments against the police, saying they were not aimed at any single police officer or the entire department. “I was only referring to a few police officers who were behaving like puppets of the YSR Congress party and harassing the TDP workers for not joining the ruling party,” he said.
Reddy said it was just a slip of tongue comment made out of anguish. “There is nothing to take my comments so seriously,” he said.
