Internal squabbles worry TRS

Hyderabad: Even as the TRS is claiming to win 16 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, it is not a cake walk for the ruling party to emerge victorious in at least six Lok Sabha segments of Khammam, Mahabubabad, Chevella, Mahbubnagar, Peddapally and Nalgonda.

Strong Congress party network and internal squabbles within TRS in some of these segments is a worrying factor for the party leadership ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The two constituencies of Khammam and Mahabubabad have already dented the party's chances in Assembly elections. Out of the 14 Assembly segments under these two constituencies, the TRS has won only four during the recent elections.

However, the one independent and Congress MLA B Haripriya Naik have decided to support TRS. "The party needs to have more focus on the reserved SC and ST segments under these two constituencies to win. Our party president had already said that we had to lose because of the mistakes of our own leaders. It is high time we sort them out," opined a senior TRS leader.

The party had to face shock when the sitting MP from Chevella Konda Vishweshwar Reddy resigned TRS and joined Congress just before elections. The party leaders feel that a strong leader is required to counter Vishweshwar Reddy. Sources said that the party leadership feel that it would be challenging task to counter Vishweshwar Reddy given his financial background and the good name he earned during his term as MP.

The names of industrialist G Ranjit Reddy and P Mahender Reddy are doing rounds for this constituency but Ranjit Reddy has already started campaigning.The internal squabble in the party is making the TRS leadership to think twice on the candidature in two constituencies of Mahabubnagar and Peddapally, which were otherwise strong cases for victory.

Immediately after the Assembly elections, the MLAs under these constituencies approached party's working president KT Rama Rao and alleged that the MP did not support them. Sources said that Srinivas Goud now minister alleged that the MP did not support them during the elections. Similarly, the MLAs K Eshwar and others alleged that the government advisor and MP aspirant worked against the party leading to lesser margin in victory.

"This issue came before the chief minister, who was of the opinion that it is better to have candidate who can work with the MLAs," said a senior leader in the party. The party has not yet finalised any name for these constituencies. Nalgonda has been a Congress bastion for quite some time. There are big names like Jana Reddy, K Venkat Reddy, R Damodar Reddy and others.

Though they have lost in the recent Assembly elections, they still hold grip in the district politics. The sitting MP G Sukhender Reddy was also from Congress, who later joined TRS. Though the TRS had won good number of seats in the district, it is looking for a suitable candidate, who can win from here. The name of party's general secretary Palla Rajeshwar Reddy is doing rounds for this seat.