Major parties in a bind over disunity of leaders

WARANGAL LS BYPOLL

Leaders of district units of the BJP, Congress and TRS indulge in open clashes

Followers of Deputy Chief Minister K Srihari and former Deputy Chief Minister T Rajaiah are often resorting to clashes as the latter’s supporters are of the view that Srihari was responsible for the ouster of their leader from the post

Warangal: Even as the date for Warangal byelection is fast approaching, it seems that all is not hunky-dory with major political parties including the Congress, the BJP and the ruling TRS as group rivalries within their district units are all set to play spoilsport.

After a high-pitched clash on October 26 at the Congress Bhavan in Hanamkonda between the followers of former MLA D Srinivasa Rao and the DCC Bank Chairman J Raghava Reddy, DCC chief N Rajender Reddy and senior leader E Varada Rajeshwar Rao engaged themselves in a wordy duel on Sunday.

The incident reportedly took place during a meeting of leaders at former TPCC Chief Ponnala Lakshamaiah’s residence. Rajeshwar Rao was said to have expressed his anger for being neglected by the district Congress chief. It is learnt that the party leaders intervened and pacified them.

On the other hand, because of the rivalry between Palakurthy Assembly segment in-charge Srinivasa Rao and constituency coordinator Raghava Reddy, the party as on Sunday could not commence its election campaign in the constituency though canvassing is going on in other Assembly segments.

The appointment of Raghava Reddy as the coordinator of the Assembly segment led to the conflict between the leaders. When asked about the developments, the former TPCC chief said in Congress everything happened in a truly democratic manner and everyone was allowed to express their views.

“The party leadership will overcome these issues. Hopefully, all would work together,” he said.

Meanwhile, the TRS campaigning in Station Ghanpur was not on expected lines. Followers of Deputy Chief Minister K Srihari and former Deputy Chief Minister T Rajaiah were often resorting to clashes as the latter’s supporters are of the view that Srihari was responsible for the ouster of their leader from the post.

On November 1, during an election meeting, the supporters of both the leaders came to blows in the presence of election in-charge and Minister A Indrakaran Reddy. Incidentally, the incident occurred a day after Srihari and Rajaiah staged a show of solidarity at the TRS state headquarters in Hyderabad.

“Though our leaders claim that the differences between warring groups are sorted out, the situation on ground seems different. The party should pay special attention to Station Ghanpur if it wants to fare better in the election,” said a senior TRS leader from the constituency.

The situation in BJP is no different as a group of leaders distanced themselves from the election campaigning in view of alleged differences with the candidate Dr P Devaiah and the party district leadership.

When asked, a senior leader of the party who do not want to be quoted said, “Yes, a section of the leaders are angry over sharing of election responsibilities. We are trying to patch up the differences in view of the bypoll and for the sake of the party’s welfare as a whole.”

By James Edwin