Clip of Naidu calming crowd at Sitharaman’s speech in Andhra’s Madanapalle sets off Congress-NDA row

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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asks the crowd to listen to her during her speech at the launch of the Global Horticulture Hub - Rayalaseema Rising project in Madanapalle on October 2, 2026. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A 30-second interruption to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech at Madanapalle on October 2 turned into a political row on Sunday (October 4, 2026), after a clip of it went viral on X with the claim that the crowd had been “demanding jobs”. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, in a reply to a video post on X, called it public anger. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Ms. Sitharaman, and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and BJP leaders replied to Mr. Ramesh’s post, saying it was the “overwhelming and enthusiastic response” of party workers.

रायलसीमा में बवाल मंच पर CM चंद्रबाबू नायडू पवन कल्याण अनंत अंबानी। वित्त मंत्री जो बोलीं सुनो जनता बोली पहले नौकरी दो! सिटी नारे हूटिंग वित्त मंत्री को रोकना पड़ा भाषण। चंद्रबाबू नायडू को उठकर कहना पड़ा-शांत रहो! 1 लाख करोड़ के प्रोजेक्ट में भी रोजगार का सवाल भारी अब जनता जाग गई है अपने हक के लिए सवाल कर रही है। क्या हॉर्टिकल्चर हब से रायलसीमा के युवाओं को रोजगार मिलेगा या सिर्फ भाषण?

Ms. Sitharaman was speaking in Telugu at the launch of the “Global Horticulture Hub - Rayalaseema Rising” project in Madanapalle, Rayalaseema , when some people in the audience began shouting (what the crowd was shouting is not distinct in the clip). In the clip, she asks the crowd twice to listen to her for a minute, pauses and then steps aside. Mr. Naidu asks the audience to sit down, saying a Union Minister’s message at a programme that would change farmers’ lives was important, and that he and Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan would step out after the programme, when they could “make whatever slogans you want”. He asks people climbing a railing to get down, speaks for about 70 seconds, and Ms. Sitharaman resumes.

वित्त मंत्री खुद देख रही हैं जनता में कितनी नाराज़गी है। मुख्यमंत्री को लोगों को चुप कराना पड़ा।

The clip was posted on Sunday by a user who said the crowd had shouted “give jobs first”, and it had drawn over six lakh views by evening. Mr. Ramesh reposted it with the comment, in Hindi: “The Finance Minister herself is seeing how much anger there is among the public. The Chief Minister had to silence the people.”

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

Responding on X, Mr. Naidu said Mr.