Bickering in Maheshwaram TRS out in open, even before Kollapur is settled

Teegala Krishna Reddy levels charges against Minister Sabitha Reddy

Realignment of forces is gaining momentum on the political landscape of Telangana with the scheduled time for Assembly elections narrowing down to hardly 16 months, causing a stir and headache mainly for the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Even before the bickering in the party unit in Kollapur Assembly constituency of Nagarkurnool district has subsided, a similar problem has cropped up in Maheshwaram Assembly constituency represented by Minister for Education P. Sabitha Indra Reddy. Ms. Sabitha Reddy won the 2018 election on Congress ticket defeating T. Krishna Reddy of the TRS and she is one among the dozen Congress MLAs who switched over to the ruling party.

Developments in the recent months clearly indicate that a similar trouble is also brewing in the TRS in 10 other constituencies represented by MLAs elected on the Congress tickets and joined the TRS more than two years ago. In spite of the repeated efforts of the party leadership to strike a rapprochement between the groups led by the TRS leaders who lost the 2018 election at the hands their Congress rivals, now in the TRS, and those led by sitting legislators have found it difficult to gel.

On Tuesday, Mr. Krishna Reddy, who himself shifted his loyalty to the TRS in 2016 after winning the 2014 election on TDP ticket, made serious allegations against Ms. Sabitha Reddy that the Minister was encouraging encroachment of lands in the constituency and even the lands of tanks/lakes and schools were not being spared. His remarks came during his visit to Mantral Cheruvu in Meerpet in Maheshwaram constituency.

Mr. Krishna Reddy’s consternation assumes significance in the backdrop of reports that he is preparing ground to switch loyalties with the belief that there is no future for him in the TRS now as his chances of getting party ticket to contest the next Assembly election from Maheshwaram are getting squeezed with the presence of Ms. Sabitha Reddy. Mr. Krishna Reddy said he would take the developments to the notice of the TRS leadership.

Sources close to Mr. Krishna Reddy said he is feeling sidelined by the party leadership since the entry of Ms. Sabitha Reddy and denial of party tickets to his followers in the GHMC elections was a clear indication. He announced on Tuesday that he would not even hesitate to launch an indefinite hunger strike against the excesses of the group led by the Minister and also for the development of the constituency since many works were pending completion.

When tried to reach out to a couple of senior leaders of TRS, they refused to speak on the issue stating that the leadership would handle such issues but said such stirrings were common for the parties in power, particularly ahead of election year.