Raghurama Krishnam Raju aka RRR, the self-proclaimed ‘thorn in Jagan’s flesh’, suddenly finds himself at the crossroads in Andhra Pradesh politics. He rebelled against the ruling YSRCP and its chief YS Jagan, for no apparent reason, and ruined his existence in it in a suicidal manner. The TDP and Janasena, for whom he did a lot of ‘service’ in the last four years, discarded him with disdain when it came to allotting a seat to the maverick leader. The BJP too kept him at a safe distance, in what is regarded as the ultimate snub.

Is he a fall-guy, having walked into a web of power politics woven by Chandrababu Naidu or is it his own doing, for rubbing YS Jagan on the wrong side? Or is it the result of his loose-cannon behaviour that earned him a negative image in public? Or was it because of his reputation as an eternally rebellious and untrustworthy politician whose loyalty to parties changed like the seasonal weather? Well, it is a combination of all the above factors is the overwhelming response, coming from both political circles and the man on the street.

Sadly for Raju and most predictably for the rest of the world, there are hardly any signs of sympathy for him after he was overlooked in his desire to extend his future in electoral politics. That he simply reaped what he sowed has been an apt attribute to the humiliation meted out to him in this process.

But Raju being Raju, he showed his die-hard vengeance towards YS Jagan even in this moment of poignance. As soon as it became evident to him that the BJP has grossly ignored him in its latest candidates’ list for AP, Raju came up with a terse video to announce this ignominy to the world. And interestingly, he chose to blame and demonise YS Jagan, alleging that the YSRCP chief had connived with BJP’s Somu Veerraju to deny him a ticket from the saffron party.

It goes without saying that his latest accusation is as juvenile and silly just as his torrent of outbursts against YS Jagan over the last four years. Firstly, he resigned as a Member of Parliament only a few weeks ago after clinging on to it for years even after being suspended from the YSRCP. Also, he is not a primary member of the BJP as yet for aspiring for the party’s ticket at the eleventh hour.

One thing that did not go unnoticed in this episode is the fact that Ragurama Krishnam Raju had only cleverly concealed a bigger treachery by Chandrababu Naidu. Many in the Andhra Pradesh political circles feel that the temperamental leader was ‘fully used and now thrown into the dustbin’ by the TDP chief, when it mattered most.

It is widely perceived that everything RRR did or uttered in public ever since he turned a rebel within the YSRCP ranks was as per the script of the TDP chief. He became a handy tool for the yellow media which provided extensive coverage to his daily dose of rants, jaw-dropping accusations and insults hurled at YS Jagan.

This apart, Raghurama Krishnam Raju is also rumoured to have liaised for the TDP in the power corridors of Delhi on more occasions than one. Even the yellow media claimed on occasions that RRR played a decisive role in ‘organising’ appointments with the central leadership when the TDP badly wanted it. The imagery of Nara Lokesh hobnobbing with Raju in Delhi in the aftermath of his father Chandrababu Naidu’s arrest in the AP skill development scam case is still fresh in everyone’s mind. It is further speculated that the YSRCP rebel MP had provided key leads and used his ‘good offices’ in the national capital to rope in India’s top advocates like Siddharth Luthra and Harish Salve to argue Naidu’s cases.

For all his so-called loyalty to the TDP while being disloyal to his own party, RRR hoped that he would be nominated again for the 2024 elections by any of the three parties – TDP, Janasena and BJP. With this precise scheming, he is said to have also strongly advocated the BJP’s entry into the alliance.

But to his misfortune, both the TDP and Janasena left him high and dry, by smartly leaving Narsapuram out to the BJP in the seat-sharing exercise. The BJP too took the cue and treated him like an outcast with the belief that he would bring disrepute to the party. His ‘below-the-belt’ antics in public and on TV over the last four years and his ‘megalomaniac’-like behaviour are said to have contributed to this fate.

Many feel that, deep in his heart, even Raju himself would find it difficult to gulp down the manner in which he was backstabbed by Chandrababu Naidu, more than anything else. He should be sulking with the feeling that he was made a fall-guy by the TDP chief, after creating all the false hopes in him, they opine.