A viral video from Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, shows a crowd shouting during Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech on October 2. The incident has sparked a fresh political row, with the opposition claiming the disruption stemmed from public anger.
However, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu trashed those claims, saying it was enthusiasm among the people of Rayalaseema, , whereas the Congress maintained it was driven by anger over jobs.
This comes after Sitharaman spoke about an agricultural project and laid the foundation stones for a Rs 1 lakh crore horticulture hub and the Indian School of Agriculture. A clip shows Sitharaman trying to calm the crowd before Naidu stepped in. Once Naidu took the podium, Sitharaman resumed her speech.
Meanwhile, the audio in the clip is not audible and does not make it clear why exactly the crowd was shouting.
Sitharaman can be heard repeatedly asking people to listen to her before Naidu steps in and asks them to sit down.
"Please listen to me for one minute," Sitharaman told the public.
Naidu then took over. "Please sit down. I understand your enthusiasm." He then told the gathering that he and Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan would come out after the programme. "Then, if you want, you can raise as many slogans as you want. But not here. Please sit down," Naidu said.
He also asked people who had climbed onto a railing to get down. "Hey, brothers, please get down," he said. Naidu said that he was telling them to sit down for their own good. "We are telling you this respectfully, so you should also show respect," Naidu said, before again asking the crowd to sit quietly.
Congress Hits Out at Sitharaman
Sharing the clip of the incident, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh described the scene as a sign of "public anger." He wrote, 'The Finance Minister herself is seeing how much anger there is among the public.' The Chief Minister had to silence the people."
However, refuting the claims, Chandrababu Naidu, Sitharaman, Andhra Pradesh minister and TDP leader Nara Lokesh, and BJP leaders stated that the crowd was enthusiastic about the leaders on stage.
Replying to Jairam, Sitharaman said, "Unbelievable, Jairam. Didn't think you were impetuous. Both TDP and Jana Sena Party workers were keen on interacting with their leaders, N Chandrababu Naidu garu and Pawan Kalyan garu. Hon. CM said that after the programme they would come out and interact. That was all there is to it."
CM Naidu also countered Ramesh’s narrative directly on X, he tagged Jairam Ramesh and wrote, "Jairam ji, your interpretation of what happened could not be further from reality."
"What you are trying to falsely portray as public anger was, in fact, an overwhelming and enthusiastic response from the people," he added. Naidu said the crowd's enthusiasm had prompted him to intervene so that the programme could continue. "The sheer enthusiasm of the gathering required me to intervene briefly so that the programme could continue smoothly," he said.
"To mistake people's enthusiasm for anger only reveals how disconnected you are from the mood of the people of Andhra Pradesh and Bharat alike," Naidu wrote.
"Politically motivated social media narratives cannot change what people themselves felt and expressed!"