Differences crop up in Srikakulam TDP

Srikakulam: With general elections less than a year away, differences between senior TDP leaders are out in the open in the district and they have started squabbling openly in public. On Friday, District In-charge Minister Pithani Satyanarayana convened the TDP Coordination Committee meeting, along with the party leaders Minister for Transport K Atchannaidu, Zilla Parishad Chairperson Ch Dhanalakshmi, TDP district president G Sirisha and some MLAs. However,  Minister for Energy and TDP State K Kala Venkata Rao was conspicuous by his absence though he was very much present in the district.   

During the meeting, former Speaker and former Minister and Rajam TDP segment in-charge K Pratibha Bharathi made several allegations against Kala Venkata Rao as he was creating hurdles for her in the Rajam segment.  She was joined by  Zilla Parishad (ZP) Chairperson Ch Dhanalakshmi and her husband Ch Babji in levelling allegations openly against Venkata Rao before the district in-charge Minister  Pratibha Bharathi also received support from TDP Amudalavalasa MLA K Ravi Kumar who alleged that they were being sidelined by Venkat Rao. On one occasion, the Zilla Parishad chairperson threatened to offer her resignation.  

It clearly showed that a group of leaders owing allegiance to Minister K Atchannaidu revolted against Kala Venkata Rao as they were having rivalry. They are unable to digest his intervention in the administrative affairs as they used to enjoy a lot of clout under domination of Atchannaidu when he was a single minister from the district. 

In retaliation, TDP Rajam segment leaders conducted a meeting at Rajam on Saturday under the leadership of K Vinay Kumar, B Vasu Naidu, J Vishnu Murthy, B Trinadh and revolted against the segment in-charge K Pratibha Bharathi. They levelled severe allegations against her that she was collecting money in the name of  outsourcing appointments, demanding percentages in contracts, collecting bribe in selections of beneficiaries for welfare schemes. 

They decided to complain against Pratibha Bharathi to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu demanding her removal from party segment in-charge post and deny her a party ticket to contest elections next year. With allegations and counter allegations, the seniors TDP leaders are fighting openly. “We will report the differences among leaders in Srikakulam district to party high command,” party observer Kaki Govinda Reddy said while speaking to The Hans India here on Sunday.