NIZAMABAD: Dharmapuri Srinivas, or DS as he is popularly known, has once again become the talk of the town in Nizamabad.
The senior politician and TRS Rajya Sabha member’s son, D Arvind, has defeated none other than Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha in Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency. Did DS have anything to do with his son’s surprise victory?
DS is one of Nizamabad’s tallest leaders. He had served as AP Congress Committee chief when the party was in power in the erstwhile State. In 2015, he switched to TRS.
His other son, former Nizamabad Mayor D Sanjai, too is currently with the TRS. Arvind, however, chose to sail with BJP instead.
Relations between the Dharmapuri family and Kavitha have always been strained.
A few months before the Assembly elections, Kavitha claimed DS was working against the pink party and demanded the high command to take disciplinary action against him.
TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, however, remained silent and did not react to his daughter’s allegations. Meanwhile, DS too said he would return to Congress soon.
While he hasn’t taken the plunge yet, most of his supporters have moved back to Congress.
Kavitha’s supporters believe DS played a clandestine role in Arvind’s campaign.
They believe DS convinced Congress cadres in Nizamabad into working for Arvind. They also claim Congress candidate Madhu Yaskhi Goud had mostly been silent through the campaign, and that his campaign too looked unenthusiastic.
TRS cadre has accused the two national parties of colluding to defeat Kavitha.
How will Kavitha and TRS handle DS? This is something the people of Nizamabad will discuss about for many days to come.
Whatever DS might have done, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that all parties in Telangana have, once again, taken notice of the Dharmapuri family.