Vijayawada: The bonhomie between the Telugu Desam and Jana Sena that formed an alliance to dethrone the YSRC from power appears to be showing cracks at assembly segments level. Leaders of the two parties are criticising each other and even getting involved in brawls across districts.
Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan had announced his party’s alliance with the TD unilaterally after meeting Nara Chandrababu Naidu in jail. Top leaders from both the parties are trying to convince their respective party cadres to be ready for sacrifices in the seat sharing process. They planned the holding of coordination meetings at assembly segment level.
But, a meeting at Pithapuram witnessed ruckus as Jana Sena segment in-charge Udaya Srinivas requested former TD MLA S.V.S.N. Varma to allow him to contest the polls, as he had lost it in the last elections.
Angered at this, Varma pointed out that even great leaders suffered defeat in the last polls -- in an oblique reference to JS chief Pawan Kalyan losing the fight in Bhimavaram and Gajuwaka segments.
Irked at this, leaders from both parties entered into heated arguments. Chairs and benches were hurled in the air and the meeting ended in a huff.
So was the case at Jaggampeta on Wednesday, where the Jana Sena Jaggampeta assembly segment in-charge Surya Chandra and Kakinada district TD president Jyothula Naveen jostled with each other following a heated argument. Soon after the TD-JS coordination meeting started, Surya Chandra demanded an apology from the TD president, alleging that a JS activist was assaulted in Gokavaram mandal a few days ago.
The TD leader refused to apologise and both the leaders along with the supporters entered into heated arguments. They pushed each other and the meeting ended abruptly.
Former MLA Jyothula Nehru (TD) claimed that the segment would be allotted to TD only in the seat sharing. This also forced the JS leader to boycott the meeting.
In Anakapalli assembly segment, there was a conflict of interest between the former TD loyalist who is currently with the JS, Parchuri Bhaskara Rao, and another JS leader Doolam Gopinath. Rao was a close associate of former TD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao and he switched loyalty to the JS but did not invite JS leaders for the coordination meeting with TD.
However, Dalit leader Gopinath raised an objection for not getting properly invited. Later, he said, “Rao announced in the meeting that he would decide who should be allowed to speak in the meeting and this resulted in an exchange of heated arguments.”
Though TD politburo member Ayyanna Patrudu was present, he remained a mute spectator. He later announced that he had no objection to offer his Narsipatnam assembly segment to JS as part of a seat-sharing between TD-JS.
In Krishna district, Jana Sena supporters picked up a quarrel with their party
district president Bandreddy Ramakrishna over an issue even as the leaders from both JS and TD were trying to pacify them in the TD-JS coordination meeting and this resulted in JS supporters hurling the chairs into the air.
Similar conflicts of interests between leaders from both TD-JS are being reported from several districts. However, leaders from the TD and JS dismissed these as minor issues.
Jana Sena political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar said, “We are conducting coordination meetings between JS-TD in all 175 assembly segments in the state. There may be some issues in one or two segments and these are not related to an alliance between the two parties but issues of local importance. There is a lot of excitement among the leaders from both the parties to ally together and contest in the polls to defeat the YSRC."
TD national spokesperson Pattabhi Ram said, “There are no issues between the TD-JS leaders except for stray cases of arguments here and there on personal grounds.”
