Old guards vs turncoats in MLC polls

​Anantapur/Guntur: Political activity at the CM’s riverfront bungalow at Vundavalli in the capital city on Saturday witnessed signs of an imminent turf war between the old timers in the ruling TDP and turncoats in Anantapur and Guntur districts, among others.

As part of dousing the embers of infighting so as to help the party put up a façade of unity ahead of the MLC elections and the municipal elections, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu began an exercise to ensure a patch up between the warlords and entertaining defections with an interface at his residence.

Even as the developments in Anantapur district are seemingly out of taste for Naidu, he called for a meeting of the district party coordination committee in an attempt to set the house in order.

When the party is a divided house in the district with the faction lords out to tear the party into pieces, the race for the tickets for the MLC elections widened the gulf further. Civil Supplies Minister Paritala Sunitha goes all out to get ticket for Subramanyam, a hardcore loyalist of her husband late Paritala Ravi, MP JC Diwakar Reddy, who defected from the Congress before the 2014 elections, started pulling the strings in favour of his son-in-law Deepak Reddy.

Interestingly, all the groups, including the one led by Payyavula Kesav, rallied behind Diwakar Reddy for the cause of his son-in-law, Sunitha appears to have been fighting a loan battle.

According to sources, Naidu had a one-to-tone talk involving Sunitha, Varadapauram Suri, Dharmavaram MLA, Payyavula Kesav, party president BK Parthasaradhi and Prabhakar Reddy, brother Diwakar Reddy. Notably, Hindupur MLA and actor Nandamuri Balakrishna and Diwakar Reddy did not make it to the `counselling’ session.

Earlier in the day, Congress senior leader and Legislative Council Deputy Chairman Md Jani, a vocal leader from Muslim Minorities in Guntur district, switched to the TDP in the presence of Naidu in the hope of getting the MLC ticket. His admission took place understandably in line with the Naidu’s latest “Akarsh Muslim” scheme so as to get rid of the anti-Muslim image which he allegedly acquired in the process of sailing with the BJP.

However, Jani’s admission has fuelled group war between him and SM Zia Uddhin, old-timer and brother of party politburo member late Lal Janbhasha in Guntur East Assembly constituency. Signs of discontent surfaced much before Jani’s entry when Zia Uddhin gave vent to his feeling of displeasure with party AP president K Kalavenkata Rao.

“Our family is loyal to the TDP for more than two decades. How can we sail with leaders who were our rivals till now”, he reportedly asked Venkata Rao. In Guntur district there are over 1 lakh muslims and the so-called Muslim Akarsh may work to some extent in favour of the party prospects in the upcoming elections. But the defections, it is feared, will upset the ecosystem within the party, upsetting the apple-cart.

By: Ravi Prasad Benjamin & V L Shyam Sundar