A political row broke out between the Congress and the NDA on Sunday after a clip of a brief interruption to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's speech at Andhra Pradesh's Madanapalle on October 2 surfaced on social media.
The video showed Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu speaking to the crowd.
After a user by the handle name 'Suleman Khan' posted the 30-second clip with the claim that the crowd was demanding jobs, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh came into the scene and reposted it, taking a swipe at the finance minister.
"The finance minister herself is seeing how much anger there is among the public. The chief minister had to silence the people," he said.
The post triggered a sharp response from the TDP-led Andhra Pradesh government and NDA leaders.
Sitharaman rejected Ramesh's interpretation, saying TDP and Jana Sena workers were eager to interact with their leaders, Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan, and that the chief minister had asked them to wait until after the programme was over for interaction.
Calling him by his first name, the finance minister said it was "unbelievable" that the Congress leader quickly jumped into such a conclusion.
"Unbelievable, Jairam. Didn't think you were impetuous. The workers of both TDP and Jana Sena Party wanted to meet their leaders, Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan. The chief minister only said they would meet them after the programme ended. That was all," Sitharaman said in the comment section of the Congress leader's post.
@Jairam_Ramesh Unbelievable, Jairam. Didn't think you were impetuous. Both @JaiTDP and @JanaSenaParty workers were keen on interacting with their leaders @ncbn garu and @PawanKalyan garu. Hon. CM said that after the programme they would come out and interact. That was all there is to it.
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) October 4, 2026
The chief minister also attacked Jairam Ramesh and accused him of showing the matter to make it look like public anger when it was actually an "overwhelming and enthusiastic response" from the gathering. He said he intervened briefly only to ensure the programme continued smoothly.
"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. The sheer enthusiasm of the gathering required me to intervene briefly so that the programme could continue smoothly," Chandrababu Naidu said.
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. The sheer enthusiasm of the gathering required me to intervene briefly so that the programme could continue smoothly. 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. Politically motivated social media narratives cannot change what people themselves felt and expressed! @Jairam_Ramesh
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) October 4, 2026
State minister Nara Lokesh, who was at the event, slammed Jairam Ramesh for spreading false narratives without verifying facts. Lokesh said there was no protest among the crowd. He said a normal interaction with an enthusiastic crowd had been cut out and given a different narrative.
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