Clip of Naidu pacifying crowd at Sitharaman’s speech in Andhra’s Madanapalle sparks spat between Congress and NDA

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 of 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 claims that the crowd was “asking for jobs”. Responding to the video post on X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called it public anger. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Ms Sitharaman and senior leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the BJP responded to Mr Ramesh’s post, saying it was an “overwhelming and enthusiastic response” from party workers.

CM Chandrababu Naidu Pawan Kalyan Anant Ambani at a busy scene in Rayalaseema. Listen to what the finance minister said, the public said, put jobs first! City slogans were blaring, the finance minister had to stop his speech. Chandrababu Naidu had to stand up and say – keep calm! The issue of employment is a big concern even in a Rs 1 lakh project. Now the public has woken up and is demanding their rights. Will Horticulture Hub provide employment for the youth of Rayalaseema or just speeches?

— Suleman Khan (@sulemankhans609) October 4, 2026

Ms. Sitharaman was speaking in Telugu at the launch of the ‘Global Horticulture Hub – Rayalaseema Rising’ project at Madanapalle, Rayalaseema, when some people in the audience started shouting (what the crowd was shouting is not clear in the clip). In the clip, she twice asks the crowd to listen to her for a minute, pauses and then backs off. Asking the audience to sit down, Mr. Naidu said the Union Minister’s message on the program that would change the lives of farmers was important and that he and Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan would speak after the program when they could “make the slogans you want”. He asks the people climbing the railing to get down, talks for about 70 seconds and Mrs. Sitharaman continues.

The finance minister herself can see how much anger there is among the public. The Chief Minister had to silence the people.

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 4, 2026

The clip was posted on Sunday by a user who said the crowd shouted “get the job done first” and had over six million views by evening. Mr. Ramesh reposted it with a comment in Hindi: “The finance minister herself can see how much anger there is among the public. The chief minister had to silence people.”

Jairam ji, your interpretation of what happened could not be further from reality. What you are trying to fake as public anger was actually an overwhelming and enthusiastic response from people. The sheer enthusiasm of the gathering required me to intervene briefly to allow the program to continue smoothly. Mistaking people’s enthusiasm for anger only shows how out of touch you are with the mood of the people of Andhra Pradesh and Bharat. Politically motivated stories on social media cannot change what people themselves felt and expressed! @Jairam_Ramesh

— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) October 4, 2026

Responding to X, Mr Naidu said Mr Ramesh’s interpretation “couldn’t be further from the truth” and that what was portrayed as public anger was an “overwhelming and enthusiastic response from people”. The enthusiastic gathering required him to step in briefly to ensure the smooth running of the program, he said, and “politically motivated narratives on social media cannot change what people themselves felt and expressed”.

@Jairam_Ramesh Unbelievable Jairam. I didn’t think you were rash. Both @JaiTDP and @JanaSenaParty workers were keen to interact with their leaders @ncbn garu and @PawanKalyan garu. Hon’ble CM said that they will come out after the program and interact with each other. That was all.

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) October 4, 2026

Ms. Sitharaman replied that TDP and Jana Sena Party (JSP) workers were interested in interacting with Mr. Naidu and Mr. Pawan Kalyan and the Chief Minister told them that the two would come out after the program. “Unbelievable, Jairam. I didn’t think you were rash,” she wrote. “That was all.

IT Minister Nara Lokesh accused the Congress leader of spreading “fake news” without verifying the facts. He said there was no disruption of the Finance Minister’s speech by the youth demanding jobs and claimed that a normal interaction with the enthusiastic gathering was selectively cropped and given to a misleading narrative. He urged Mr. Ramesh to check the facts before posting on social media and asked him to delete what he described as false claims.

This is how fake news is manufactured — and then amplified by senior Congressional leaders without bothering to check the facts. The speech of the Minister of Finance was not disturbed by the local youth demanding work. The claim being circulated is completely false. A normal interaction with an enthusiastic crowd is deliberately cut, twisted and given a fictional story. Shri @Jairam_Ramesh surely a senior leader with your experience should fact check before tweeting. Deliberate misinformation is not on. Delete the lie. @nsitharaman @ncbn

— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) October 4, 2026

Andhra Pradesh BJP chief PVN Madhav reiterated the government’s stand and said the routine interaction with the assembly was being portrayed as an organized protest against employment.

@Jairam_Ramesh before drawing political conclusions from a clipped video, basic facts need to be checked, a quality that seems to be very rare among Congress leaders. What actually happened at the event is very different from the story being circulated. The routine interaction with the gathering was presented as an organized protest against jobs and this version has now been amplified politically by you. Now please watch this video where the same crowd is seen cheering and thanking the Honorable Finance Minister during her speech. There was no disruption of the finance minister’s speech by the protesting youth. They cheered and supported their leaders on stage. Rayalaseema’s aspirations for investment, employment and economic growth deserve a serious discussion, not a narrative built on your selectively edited video and misleading interpretation. The proposed CZK 1,000,000 horticulture center is exactly the kind of large-scale investment whose potential impact on farmers, industry and employment should be discussed on the basis of facts. Political commentary is a choice. Fact-checking before publication is a responsibility. @Jairam_Ramesh..it is now your responsibility to correct the record and take down the misleading post.

— PVN Madhav (Modi Ka Parivar) (@MadhavBJP) October 4, 2026

At an event on October 2, Mr. Naidu and Ms. Sitharaman laid the foundation stones for the 1,100,000 CZK Horticulture Center and the Indian College of Agriculture.

Published – 04 Oct 2026 21:48 IST