Friction between Seemandhra and Telangana leaders became pronounced in the TDP on Wednesday when Telangana Telugu Desam Party Forum convenor E Dayakar Rao unleashed a torrent of invective against Anantapur leader Payyavula Keshav over party’s stand on state bifurcation.
Dayakar Rao, who understandably was uneasy over the party chief N Chandrababu Naidu writing to the prime minister, burst out at Keshav for saying that he would try to make Naidu take a complete U-turn in favour of samaikyandhra.
“Payyavula Keshav is a pest. I do not have to leave the party. In fact, I will stay on and see that the party gets rid of people like Keshav,” he said, and dared Keshav to make the party change its stand in favour of Samaikyandhra. The Telangana leader, however, said Naidu’s letter was not against bifurcation of the state and that it did not indicate any U-turn.
Both the leaders have not been seeing eye to eye for some time now and Dayakar Rao even lodged a strong protest with Chandrababu that Keshav had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a halt to division of the state. Dayakar Rao reminded Chandrababu that the petition was against the party’s policy of seeking fair deal for Seemandhra.
After Naidu wrote to the prime minister, Keshav rubbed salt into the wounds of Dayakar Rao that people in Seemandhra region were happy over the line Naidu had taken. After Dayakar Rao burst out at Keshav, the latter matched Dayakar Rao’s words. He said he was out and out integrationist and that he does not care what Dayakar Rao says and that he would continue to fight for samaikyandhra.