KARIMNAGAR: Manakondur Assembly constituency is now witnessing a full-blown poster drama, with leaders from the ruling Congress and the Opposition BRS locked in a not-so-subtle exchange of mudslinging, both figurative and, some suspect, literal.
At the centre of the controversy: a stalled road project between Gundlapalli and Pothhur. What began as a routine civic issue has turned into a political soap opera, with local body elections approaching and egos running high.
It all started when BRS leaders unveiled a poster targeting sitting Congress MLA Kavvampally Satyanarayana, dubbing him “Commission Kavvampally Narayana” and questioning why the road work had been mysteriously abandoned halfway. The poster was accompanied by plans for a bike rally, presumably to ensure the drama had both literal and symbolic wheels.
Congress supporters, not ones to take an insult lying down, hit back with their own poster, branding former BRS MLA Rasamayi Balakishan as the hero of “Rasaleelalu”, a title that promises scandal and delivers innuendo.
Not to be outdone, the BRS camp responded with “Kamaleelalu”, a rather creative attempt to question the MLA’s commitment to governance. The insinuation was that the MLA prefers ribbon-cutting and cake-cutting over actual development. The war of words and posters quickly migrated to social media, where armchair critics, loyalists and meme-makers turned the constituency into a circus of comments, debates and conspiracy theories.
Satyanarayana, clearly irritated, defended his record with a straight face, claiming Balakishan had no right to question road works. “He neglected the project for a decade. Now, suddenly, he’s concerned? We’ve had only one and a half years, with no funds and zero contractor interest. The previous government left behind a mountain of unpaid bills,” the MLA said, alleging for good measure that Balakishan earned crores and built a farmhouse on government land.
Not to be left behind in the verbal sparring, Balakishan said the protest was originally meant to push for road construction. “But then came that poster against me,” he said, likely referencing the “Rasaleelalu” broadside. “So our party workers returned the favour.”
And in perhaps the most bizarre claim of the week, Balakishan alleged that “romance and cake-cutting” had replaced governance in Manakondur. The BRS poster, apparently, serves as proof. However, the question of how romance entered the development debate remains a mystery.