KARIMNAGAR: A coconut garnered more attention than the State minister and MP present at a fire station inauguration ceremony at Choppadandi mandal headquarters on Tuesday. While party seniors - including Finance Minister Etela Rajender and Karimnagar MP B Vinod Kumar were present during the inauguration ceremony - TRS leaders did not shy away from creating a ruckus over something as trivial as a coconut. Or maybe the coconut symbolised their inflated egos.
All was going well until Vinod Kumar handed over the ceremonial coconut to Gaddam Chokka Reddy, Arnakonda single window director. As Chokka Reddy proceeded to crack the coconut and call it a day, MLA Bodige Shobha decided to act. In full public view, and leaving one and all stunned, the MLA pushed aside Chokka Reddy. The message was clear: she did not want Chokka Reddy to break the coconut at the ceremony.
After a brief confusion over what had just happened, followers of the MLA and Chokka Reddy started raising slogans supporting their bosses. The minister and the MP, meanwhile remained mute spectators. The duo senior leaders reportedly coaxed a distraught Chokka Reddy to maintain silence over the issue.
Unable to hold up his emotions, Chokka Reddy broke down in front of the minister. Terming the incident as a grave injustice to him, the TRS leader said that despite giving ten years to the party, he was not being allowed to even break a coconut at an event. “What should I do,” he asked the minister. However, Rajender left the scene leaving Chokka Reddy clueless. The new development in the party ahead of Pragathi Nivedana lays bare the internal politics inside TRS circles.
It may be recalled that around a year ago MLA Shobha had not attended the oath-taking ceremony of Choppadandi Agricultural Market Committee chairperson Sumalatha, who happens to be Chokka Reddy’s wife. Ever since, there have been differences between the two groups.