REPORTERS’ DIARY : ‘Break’ for CBN-a joke gone awry

The other day, TDP supremo and ex-CM N Chandrababu Naidu’s wife N Bhuvaneshwari, who has been campaigning across Andhra Pradesh for her husband as part of her ‘Nijam gelavali’ (Truth must win) yatra, started thinking loudly during a programme at the Kuppam Assembly constituency resulting in a bit of breaking news spreading like wild fire briefly. Addressing people, she said: “Let me share something and please feel free to react. I felt a certain urge within me. Chandrababu Naidu has been enjoying enduring trust of the people. Kuppam residents have consistently backed him for 35 years. May I suggest that he should take a break, and I should step into the electoral arena?” Let alone the gathering, TDP leaders and cadre were also taken aback at her astounding statement.  Although the sound bite had spread from Kuppam to Kanyakumari within minutes, Bhuvaneshwari finally said: “I was just teasing. I have no aspirations for any positions. My husband takes care of me well”. People are of the view that this ‘joke’, call it conjugal teasing or whatever, could prove costly for Chandrababu, coming as it does from his own wife.