Naidu did not ask PRP to join Babli protest: Chiru

TIRUPATI: PRP president K Chiranjeevi said his party was not invited by TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu to take part in the Babli protest in Maharashtra and described the actions of the TDP as a stunt to garner political mileage.

Chiranjeevi was reacting to a reported charge by the TDP that PRP leaders did not join the protest despite being invited. "Being a senior politician, I think he knows how to invite another party president. Since he wants to garner political mileage out of the Babli issue, he did not invite us," the PRP chief told the media here on Saturday.

Further, he said when chief minister K Rosaiah has called for an all party meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on July 23, there was no necessity for the TDP to stage this protest.

However, he condemned the arrests of Naidu and his MLAs by the Maharashtra government.

Earlier on Friday night, the PRP chief had walked all the way up the Tirumala hills via Alipiri and took seven hours to reach the holy hill town. The local legislator stopped at various places all along the 8 km hill route and inspected the sanitation and drinking water facilities provided by TTD for pilgrims along the route. The MLA expressed satisfaction but felt that a lot more facilities should be provided for pilgrims. He said that TTD should make special arrangements for women who were walking up the hills carrying infants.

Later, he stood in queue at Sudarshan token counter and went for darshan of Lord Venkateswara. TTD gives priority darshan priority to those who come on foot. To personally verify this, Chiranjeevi is said to have chosen the Sudarshan token darshan rather than the VIP darshan.

After the first walkathon to Tirumala, he said: "I felt exhausted as I walked over 15 km at a stretch from Leela Mahal junction to Tirumala. About two decades ago, I would regularly trek to Sabarimala in Kerala. Between 1981 till 1999, I used to visit Sabarimalai every year. It has been a decade since I undertook a similar exercise. Now, I think I still have the stamina,'' he said in a lighter vein.