JAGTIAL: In an interesting development, BJP MP D Aravind who upset Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha by winning the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat, was closeted with Congress MLC T Jeevan Reddy for some time when they met at the inaugural function of a school here on Sunday.
The sudden bonhomie and banter that flourished between the two leaders came as a surprise to the onlookers as the two parties they represent are political rivals at the national and State level.
The meeting also made several people wonder if the allegation was true that there was an unwritten understanding the Congress had with the BJP to help Aravind win the election.
The TRS has been alleging that the Congress had lent support to Aravind since it, on its own could not defeat Kavitha. For this understanding to materialise, even BJP chief Amit Shah had stepped in, persuading the Congress to support the BJP.
On seeing Jeevan Reddy at the function, Aravind went to him and tried to touch his feet but the Congress leader prevented him from doing so and hugged him, saying that Aravind’s place was in his heart. He congratulated Aravind for winning the Lok Sabha seat.
Childhood affection
Aravind recalled how much affection Jeevan Reddy used to show when he was a child and said that out of respect for the Congress leader, he tried to touch his feet.
As soon as Aravind won the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat, there were reports that if the BJP had trounced TRS leviathan Kavitha, it was because of the support that the Congress lent him covertly.
The BJP, the TRS sources said, was keen on defeating Kavitha since they were very much offended by the Kavitha’s audacity in sending a group of turmeric farmers to Varanasi, asking them to file nominations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi to embarrass him for not setting up a turmeric board in Nizamabad.
Though most of the turmeric farmers returned deflated with their effort going nowhere after the BJP cadres created impediments for them in filing nomination papers in Varanasi, the very act of trying to file nomination papers riled the party leaders who reportedly had decided to ensure that Kavitha would lose the election, regardless of how much effort has to go into the exercise.
Subsequently, it is said, the BJP leaders got in touch with the Congress leaders and managed to persuade them to help Aravind win the election which was not very difficult for them, since Aravind is son of Rajya Sabha member D Srinivas, who is essentially from the Congress stock.Srinivas was PCC president before the State was bifurcated and he served as minister in the Cabinet of late YS Rajasekhar Reddy before the State was divided.