Warangal: TRS appointments trigger debate

Warangal: The sudden appointment of party presidents for all the six districts triggered a huge debate among the political circles here in the erstwhile Warangal district on Wednesday. It may be noted here that this is the first time since the formation of Telangana in 2014, Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao has appointed the district unit chiefs.

Although the appointments are seen as a move to strengthen the party base, there was a hint of air that KCR is likely to opt for midterm polls while the Assembly elections are scheduled to be held at the end of 2023.

Chief Whip and Warangal West MLA D Vinay Bhaskar has been entrusted with the additional responsibility of heading the Hanumakonda district. In a surprise move, KCR appointed Wardhannapet MLA Aroori Ramesh as the chief of Warangal district. Both the leaders have a strong command over their regions. MP Maloth Kavitha's appointment is seen as an annoying move to local MLA Banoth Shankar Naik. It may be recalled here that speculation was rife before the Assembly elections in 2018 that TRS leadership was unhappy with Shankar Naik. However, the party retained him for reelection. Then Maloth Kavitha was seen as a strong contender for the Mahabubabad Assembly seat, however, the party fielded her Lok Sabha seat. It's said that all is not well between Shankar Naik and Maloth Kavitha.

The TRS leadership which ignored local MLA Muthireddy Yadagiri Reddy made Pagala Sampath Reddy, Zilla Parishad chairperson of Jangaon, as the district president.

The TRS leadership made Mulugu ZP chief Kusuma Jagadish as the party chief for that district. On the other hand, Gandra Jyothi, the ZP chief of Warangal has been appointed as Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district president.