Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he has a estranged wife and has no respect for the family system.

With Modi making a stinging attack on Naidu at a rally in Guntur, the latter launched a counter-offensive at a public meeting in Vijayawada. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief even remarked that Modi is keeping his wife away without giving her divorce.

As Modi had addressed him as Lokesh’s father, Naidu retorted by calling him the Prime Minister husband of Jashodaben.

Referring to the legislation brought by Modi to criminalise triple talaq citing the injustice to Muslim women, Naidu told the gathering that Modi has a wife Jashodaben. “You are keeping her away. You are doing all this without giving her divorce.”

The TDP leader said that he avoids making personal attacks but since Modi made the comments, he is compelled to respond.

“He spoke about my son and called me Lokesh’s father. I am proud of being Lokesh’s father. You have no son, you have no family and no relationship,” he told Modi.

On Modi’s allegation that he backstabbed his father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao, Naidu said Modi spoke in a manner which is unbecoming of a person holding the Prime Minister’s post.

The TDP leader said he never switched the parties or went back on his word.

He said he differed even with his father-in-law for state’s future and pointed out that he had the full support of the family and the party.

Naidu alleged that Modi insulted his “guru” L.K. Advani by not responding to his greetings at an event. He claimed that it was Advani who had saved Modi when then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee wanted to remove him as Gujarat Chief Minister following the riots.

Naidu said Modi calls himself “chowkidar” and “chai wala” but wears “suit boot” worth crores of rupees.

“He says one thing and does another. Did you ever see me in any other clothes even when I go abroad? Even this black shirt which I am wearing today (Sunday) is to protest Modi’s visit.”

The Chief Minister said Modi came to Andhra Pradesh just to criticise him and left without answering the question what he did for the state in the last five years.

Stating that the state was yet to get over Rs 1 lakh crore from the Centre, Naidu said he would continue to fight for the state’s rights. “Are we not paying taxes to the Centre? Are we not part of this country?”

He rubbished the allegations of corruption levelled by Modi and said there is an independent body Comptroller and Auditor General to audit the accounts of both state and the Central governments.

“We are not bound to give accounts to anybody as there is CAG to audit the same,” said Naidu on Modi’s allegation that he is afraid as the Centre is seeking account for the money being given to the state.

A film, titled “My Name is RaGa”, is being made that will focus on Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s life.

“The movie has no intentions to glorify Rahul or to demystify him. It’s the story of a coming back of a human being who had been ridiculously attacked,” director Rupesh Paul said in a statement.

“Anyone who has fearlessly confronted defeat and failure can relate to this story. In that sense, I don’t want to call this a biopic, it’s a story of any man who becomes unstoppable after he win over a catastrophic life,” he added.

The film is expected to release in April in the midst of elections.

We’re talking about beautiful Amala Akkineni who has bid adieu to playing heroine roles after she got married to Akkineni Nagarjuna in 1992. Two decades later, she has come to silver screen through Sekhar Kammula’s “Life Is Beautiful” and then appeared in a cameo in Manam movie too.

Reports are coming that now Amala wants to appear in a full-length role in an upcoming film of her husband Nagarjuna. If the rumors are anything to believe, she will be seen in a lengthy role in Nag’s upcoming Manmadhudu 2. As Nagarjuna is likely to play the role of a father and son, we hear that Amala will be seen in the mother character.

Sources close to Annapurna Studios, however, rubbished all these reports and they have stated only she will be appearing in a guest role that lasts for a couple of minutes. Being directed by hero Rahul Ravindran, Manmadhudu 2 will be shot in Portugal from March.

It is more or less certain that Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is not going to take his nephew and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao into his cabinet, which is going to be expanded shortly, if one were to go by the talk going on in TRS circles.May be Harish has been told that he would not get any berth in the cabinet, as was evident from the way he silently vacated his ministerial quarters at Road No. 12, Banjara Hills.

Harish may have to continue as an MLA without any position or could be fielded in the Lok Sabha elections.But signals have already gone into the people as well party cadre that Harish is getting sidelined in the party.Following the recent reports on Kaleshwaram major irrigation project, which was visited twice by KCR and his son K T Rama Rao, several postings have surfaced in the social media expressing sympathy for Harish Rao, who held irrigation portfolio till the other day.

One such social media post, with a picture of Harish Rao, pointed out that Kaleshwaram project would not have come to this stage but for the initiative and hard work of Harish Rao.“He spent sleepless nights, ran after the officials and engineers and regularly reviewed the progress of works as an irrigation minister. He visited the project almost every week to personally monitor the execution of the project,” the post said.

It expressed regrets over the way the KCR government was ignoring the services of Harish Rao and has not involved him in the project reviews after the TRS came to power for a second term.One does not know who the person is behind these postings, but it is certain that the post definitely reflects the anger and anguish among sincere party workers who know the hard work of Harish Rao.