KHAMMAM: What you get when you slightly twist the popular phrase ‘brothers in arms’? ‘Co-brothers in arms’? One is tempted to coin such phrases thanks to our politicians, and their desire to get their respective parties’ favour at all costs, especially with the elections round the corner.
While one of the most widely used phrase refers to two people fighting together for the same cause, by ‘co-brothers in arms’, considering we are talking about politicians, we actually mean the opposite -- though we should suffix that phrase with ‘fighting against each other’ to achieve the same goal. The co-brothers being referred to here are Vanama Venkateswara Rao and Adavalli Krishna who are trying to impress -- rather we should say fighting -- the Congress high command to get the party’s Kothagudem ticket for December 7 elections.
If the sources are to be believed, Kothagudem Assembly constituency has actually become a big headache for Congress party’s high command with one set of local leaders and supporters lobbying for Vanama Venkateswara Rao and the other for Adavalli Krishna.
While Venkateswara Rao is a senior leader and a former minister, and his co-brother Adavalli Krishna is also a senior Congress leader with a considerable following. Both the leaders are said to be working separately towards their goal as they had differences of opinion on many issues and for many years. Venkateswara Rao is said to have the support of TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy and another senior leader Jana Reddy, while Adavalli Krishna is being backed by former union minister Renuka Chowdary.
The duo is also has a history of rivalry too, that is in political terms. Back in 2009 elections, Adavalli contested on Praja Rajyam Party ticket and Vanama on Congress ticket -- though both of them were defeated with CPI candidate Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao winning the seat.