Sonia ducks NTR blow with tribute to Rao

Sonia denied the same honour to Telugu Desam Party founder N.T. Rama Rao, who was pipped by Rajiv Gandhi in naming the airport. However, Sonia and her party colleagues were apparently haunted by the memories of the filmstar-turned-politician, who, riding the surge of mass anger against the unceremonious removal of successive Andhra chief ministers by Indira Gandhi dethroned the Congress. For the present TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, who courted arrest on the issue here today, the sole game is a replay of the Telugu Bidda card.

Sonia, in turn, claimed Hyderabad as her husband’s training ground. Rajiv underwent training as a pilot here, she told a small gathering at the airport foundation-laying function.

At a rally later in the day, Sonia touched upon two controversial issues — Naxalite violence and Telangana statehood. ‘‘Our doors are open for talks’’ to address genuine demands of people, she said, calling upon Naxalites to resume talks with the government. ‘‘I can understand the pain and agony of families affected by extremist violence. I lost two dear members of my family to extremism,’’ she said.

The Congress chief, however, stopped short of giving an assurance on the formation of a separate state. She said she was ‘‘aware of the problems of this region’’ and that the UPA was ‘‘fully focussed on how to find solutions to the problems of the people and we will wholeheartedly strive for socio-economic development of this region.’’

Taking a swipe at the NDA and TDP regimes over their pre-occupation with publicity, she said they were marked by hype without concrete results at the ground level.