HYDERABAD: The consultation meetings of the Congress high command to break the ice between the warring leaders in districts are turning out to be more of a battlefield for the leaders to vent anger over their rivals rather than to bury the hatchet.
On Friday, when the party state in-charge Digvijaya Singh met leaders from Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar, Khammam and Rangareddy, two leaders from Nalgonda district went to the extent of showing their muscle power and the AICC point man for the state had to intervene to calm everyone.
Sources said that heated arguments took place between MLC Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and Gudur Narayan Reddy during the Nalgonda district meeting. Both the leaders levelled allegations against each other. Rajagopal Reddy slapped Narayan Reddy in the presence of Digvijaya Singh.
Unconfirmed sources said Narayan Reddy too retaliated and the duo engaged in fisticuffs before Singh who had to interfere.
Sources said the two leaders have had a running fued for a few years and are trying to dominate the Bhongir Assembly constituency politics. Rajagopal Reddy won the Bhongir Lok Sabha seat in 2009 but lost the subsequent poll in 2014.
Narayan Reddy, who is eyeing Bhongir Assembly seat in the next election, is apprehensive that Rajagopal Reddy might scuttle his chances after the latter managed to win the MLA seat from the Nalgonda local bodies constituency.
It is also learnt that two senior leaders from Rangareddy district also were engaged in a war of words during the discussions with Digvijaya Singh.