WARANGAL: The desire of Warangal East MLA Konda Surekha and her MLC husband Konda Muralidhar Rao to make their daughter Dr Sushmita Patel enter politics by contesting the Assembly polls has started creating problems in the ruling TRS. The couple is demanding that the ticket for Bhupalpally Assembly constituency, represented by Assembly Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary, be given to their daughter.
Ever since the powerful Konda couple announced that their daughter would be contesting the forthcoming Assembly polls from Bhupalpally, the Speaker is reportedly having sleepless nights. In fact, he started touring the constituency on a regular basis and conducting ‘Palle Nidra’ programme.
On the other hand, the Konda couple also started visiting Bhupalpally constituency regularly. Recently, Konda Murali took out a huge rally in Bhupalpally with over 2,000 vehicles and held a public meeting, where he criticised the Speaker and even called him a weak leader.
He even announced that his daughter Susmitha would make a good leader and bring development in the area. Sushmita has worked as the chairperson for PACS in her native village Vanchanagiri in Geesukonda Mandal. She also played a key role during the 2014 election campaign.
She is now running a hospital in Hyderabad along with her husband. Konda Surekha has already begun an online opinion survey in Facebook and got positive response from the voters of Warangal East and Bhupalapally. In addition to that, youth bodies like Konda Yuva Sena and Chittakka (Sushmita’s pet name) Yuva Sena were launched to garner support.
Apart from this a video song has been made and posted on social media platforms in a bid to reach out to the public and spreading the message that Sushmita will contest for Bhupalpally seat. The fight for ticket has left TRS cadre perplexed. The Speaker reportedly brought the issue to the notice of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Though the Speaker is claiming that he has no threat from the Konda couple, but in reality, if they decide to field their daughter from Bhupalpally which seems imminent, it would become difficult for not only him but for other contestants as well. Former government chief whip Gandra Venkatramana Reddy is planning to contest as Congress candidate from Bhupalpally.
Meanwhile, with the news of the couple planning to rejoin their parent party Congress, old foes are joining hands to defeat Konda couple in Warangal East.
Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) Mayor N Narender, party leader Errabelli Pradeep Rao and former minister Baswaraju Saraiah, who have been distant from each other are now meeting regularly.
Political observers feel that within the next two to three months, the equations in the Warangal urban and Bhupalpally are likely to change which would have an effect on all the political parties.