HYDERABAD: The latest comments made by Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan opposing the TDP leadership’s efforts to dismantle the YSRC in Andhra Pradesh by engineering defections have led to intensive and extensive discussions in the ruling party circles in the state.
TDP leaders are now, during private talks, weighing the pros and cons of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s move to induct more YSRC leaders into the party. Some of the veterans in the party are of the view that Naidu’s efforts to make YSRC MLAs and leaders join the ruling party even in constituencies, where the TDP has strong leaders, would have adverse impact on the party’s prospects in future.
These senior politicos opine that this sort of induction of opposition leaders will lead to formation of new factions in the party. “We may gain upper hand over the YSRC for now and can affect the morale of it, temporarily. But, in the long run, these defections into the party would lead to internal squabbles,” a TDP veteran told Express.
For instance, he recalled that when Bhuma Nagi Reddy’s family was in the TDP in the past, the followers of Bhuma and KE Krishnamurthy, now deputy chief minister, used to quarrel with each other in Kurnool district creating headache for the party leadership. Sooner or later, the same situation would repeat in the party in the district, he predicted.
“In all the eleven constituencies being represented by the defectors, our party has strong leaders. Our candidates in a majority of these 11 constituencies lost the 2014 Assembly elections by narrow margins. The joining of YSRC MLAs from these constituencies into our party may gradually lead to a rift between the old-timers and newcomers. This might create trouble to our party in 2019 when the next elections are due, if the enhancement of the number of Assembly seats is not effected by then,” another TDP MLA warned.
Further strengthening this argument, followers of Jammalamadugu MLA C Adinarayana Reddy, who have recently defected to TDP from YSRC, and party former MLA from the same constituency P Ramasubba Reddy, who had unsuccessfully contested the last Assembly poll, crossed swords openly on Monday.
When Ramasubba Reddy along with TDP Rajya Sabha member CM Ramesh, visited Sirigepally and Peddadandluru villages in Jammalamadugu constituency, followers of Adinarayana Reddy picked an argument with Ramasubba Reddy leading to a slanging match between the two groups. The situation was so tense that police had to mobilise additional forces to control the situation.