Hyderabad: There is much infighting in the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) as old and new faces in the party battle to get tickets for their henchmen for the ensuing municipal elections.
With the Telangana High Court clearing the way for the municipal elections to be held, the ruling party has been busy gearing up its leaders and cadres for the contest, and ministers and MLAs have been told to work together in their respective districts and constituencies.
But old-timers who were defeated in their segments in the Assembly elections are said to be demanding that party working president K.T. Rama Rao select candidates of their choice in the urban local bodies within their constituencies.
At the same time, the 12 MLAs who joined the TRS after abandoning the Congress are also pressuring Mr Rama Rao to select the candidates they want, stating that they are ardent workers of the the party.
In Kollapur constituency of the erstwhile Mah-bubnagar district, there was a clash between former minister Jupally Krishna Rao and present MLA B. Harshvardhan Reddy during the MPTC elections and both of them are now lobbying with the party high command to get tickets for their followers, sources in the TRS disclosed.
Sources said that Mr M.D. Jani, a Congress member who recently joined the TRS, is a strong contender for the post of chairman of Kodad municipality, but the district’s minister as well as senior MLAs do not approve of this.
In Tandur constituency, Vikarabad district, MLC Patnam Mahender Reddy and MLA Pilot Rohit Reddy are fighting for tickets for their followers, and sources revealed that Mr Rohit Reddy has complained to Mr Rama Rao that Mr Mahender Reddy is creating problems for him.
In view of the rift between the new and old faces, party chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao is said to have instructed ministers to reconcile the two factions and solve the problem before a notification for the elections is issued.
