Hyderabad: Two senior TRS leaders raised the banner of revolt against the leadership on Monday, highlighting the increased internal fights in the party. In the first instance TRS Ramagundam legislator and RTC chairman Somarapu Satyanarayana threatened to quit politics to protest the party leadership not taking action against those working against him and the TRS in Peddapalli district.
In the second instance, veteran leader and Rajya Sabha member D. Srinivas held a meeting with his associates from Nizamabad district in a hotel on the city outskirts to decide his future course of action.
This meeting comes in the wake of Nizamabad MP K. Kavitha submitting a petition to party president and Cheif Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao last week seeking expulsion of Mr Srinivas from the party for indulging in anti-party activities.
This apart, leaders who defected from other parties to the TRS are creating trouble for the leadership as the Assembly elections near. These new entrants and party leaders are openly fighting in districts for Assembly tickets. The TRS cadre in districts is in a fix over whom to support.
Mr Chandrasekhar Rao has promised tickets to all sitting MLAs. This will include the nearly 30 legislators and three MPs who joined the TRS over the last four years.
TRS candidates who lost to the defectors in 2014 are now not willing to give up their seats. They are constituting a strong opposition to the defectors in their respective constituencies.
TRS sources said Mr Satyanarayana was upset with the party leaders in Peddapalli district. He had given notice for a no-confidence motion against the Ramagundam mayor and deputy mayor, complaining that the TRS leaders had colluded with the Opposition to create trouble for him and the party.
The no-confidence issue came to the notice of minister K.T. Rama Rao, who directed Mr Satyanarayana to withdraw it as it could cause embarrassment to the TRS and the government. The MLA is upset with the minister's orders and said he would quit politics and not join any party.
Mr Satyanarayana said that he had to take this decision because there was no support for him to take up development programmes in his constituency. “It is better to quit politics before getting a bad name that I could not serve the people,” he said.
Similary, the internal figth between TRS regulars and defected leaders has reached a high in undivided Warangal, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Nalgonda districts. Even in Hyderabad, the entry of city Congress leader M. Mukesh Goud into the TRS is learnt to have been blocked by city minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav.
Mr Yadav is reportedly telling his supporters, “The TRS is not for all and sundry. We have enough leaders in city here. Where can we accommodate more?”
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