TRS leaders' infighting impacts council meets

Hyderabad: Two public representatives of TRS, one MLA and another former minister and MLC are at loggerheads in the Rangareddy district. With both leaders wanting to have their say in the Tandur Municipality and conflicts on regular occasions, the issue reached the Municipal Administration minister KT Rama Rao as MLA complained interference of MLC.

The public representatives are MLA Pilot Rohit Reddy and former Minister P Mahender Reddy, who is now an MLC. Mahender Reddy lost to Rohit Reddy during the 2018 Assembly elections. Rohit Reddy was in Congress then but later joined TRS along with the other Congress MLAs. Since then there has been a battle of supremacy between both these leaders in the Rangareddy district in general and the Tandur Municipality in particular. Both the leaders on regular occasions fought in open. The situation remained the same even after Rohit Reddy joined the ruling party. A senior TRS leader said that both leaders organise programs separately either be it an official program or party program. Mahender Reddy had won as MLA from the constituency four times and wants to have a grip on the constituency, said the TRS leader. The MLAs are given priority in the official and party activities in TRS and this is one of the reasons for the conflict between the two.

According to the party leaders the former minister is unable to digest the supremacy of the MLA in the constituency. Now the issue started in the Municipal meeting held recently. Sources said that the former minister handed over the agenda of the meeting. However, after the minister and the MLA left from the meeting, the corporators tore the agenda copy given by the MLC. Apart from this, it is said that the Municipal Chairperson T Swapna, who is said to be from Rohit Reddy's camp has joined Mahender Reddy's camp. With the MLC having his say in the council meetings, the MLA is learnt to have complained to Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao. It is learnt that the minister has asked both the leaders to forget differences and work for the development of the constituency.