Wordy duel takes ugly turn

Warangal: The wordy duel between Station Ghanpur MLA Thatikonda Rajaiah and MLC Kadiyam Srihari appears to have taken an ugly turn with none of them ready to cow down.

The political rivalry between Srihari and Rajaiah, who both worked as deputy Chief Minister in Telangana government, is well known as both the leaders have been up against each other for ascendancy in the Station Ghanpur constituency for a long time, this despite TRS leadership's warnings.

The latest episode triggered when Rajaiah alleged that Srihari was responsible for the killing of 360 odd naxalites when the latter was the minister in Telugu Desam government in the united Andhra Pradesh. Rajaiah made this statement while speaking at a meeting at Chinna Pendyala under Chilpur mandal in Jangaon district on Monday. Stating that former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy was his political guru, Rajaiah said that he has been worshipping the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao as a God and was following his dictum. "Station Ghanpur is my adda (bastion) and I will not allow anyone to enter it," Rajaiah said.

Fuelled by this, Srihari on Tuesday warned Rajaiah to hold his tongue in control instead of blubbering whatever he wanted. "I have nothing to do with any encounter. This was a baseless allegation. Rajaiah who is losing sheen in the constituency appears to be desperate. I represented the constituency thrice before Rajaiah. I worked hard for the win of Rajaiah in the last two elections (2014 and 2018). If Rajaiah has any issue, he should approach the TRS leadership.

Rajaiah who won four times from the constituency needs to tell what he has done for the people," Srihari said. Further, he threatened to expose Rajaiah's corruption and other illegal activities. Srihari termed himself as a disciplined TRS soldier. Rajaiah needs to change his attitude and work for the party instead of tarnishing its image. Further, he dared Rajaiah to conduct a survey to know their popularity.

In retort to Srihari's remarks, Rajaiah on Tuesday said that he never crossed the line of the party. "It was in fact Srihari who was crossing the line. I too can expose the misdeeds of Srihari.