SOME PARTY LEADERS TOEING THE TRS LINE - Feud over T issue intensifies in TDP : Henceforth,Naidu To Directly Monitor Activities

The divide in TDP between Seemandhra leaders and those from Telangana intensified onThursday with former charging the latter with contributing to the spectacular victory of the TRS in the recent bypolls and being hand in glove with the KCR-led party. The leaders from Seemandhra have been informing party president N Chandrababu Naidu over the past four days that the senior TDP leaders from Telangana had fallen into the trap of the TRS and were speaking the same language and going soft on TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao despite KCR criticising Naidu and the party several times recently.They also reportedly told Naidu that some of the Telangana TDP leaders were maintaining close contacts with the TRS leaders and were even leaking some of the party decisions to the other camp. They alleged that it was because of pressure from the TRS that the Telangana party leaders urged Naidu to personally appear before the Srikrishna committee and plead for division of the state. Naidu rightly refused to go,but it is clear that the Telangana party leaders put pressure on him only because of their proximity to the TRS camp, alleged a Seemandhra leader.

With the party clearly divided on regional lines,Naidu held closed-door meetings over the past two days with the leaders of both the regions and said that henceforth,he would directly monitor all the activities in both the regions.Till now,Naidu had given the Telangana TDP leaders a free hand to run the affairs of the party in the region. The TDP chief also constituted committees which would take up agitations on various issues like Babli issue,liquor control,health,welfare,mining etc and directed the committees to take up agitations from August 16 across the state. He also expressed his unhappiness over the party leaders not giving effective rebuttal to the statements being made by KCR.The TRS leader does not criticise Sonia Gandhi or the Congress party but is constantly attacking TDP and it is unfortunate that the seniors had failed to rebut them,he is understood to have said.

However,T leaders like N Janardhan Reddy and others denied charges levelled by their Seemandhra colleagues.We have been playing their cards in tune with the party policy.All of us are loyal to the party and its ideologies.It is a fact that the sentiment is very strong in the region and hence we had to maintain a low profile.But to charge us with being in cahoots with the TRS is ridiculous, Janardhan Reddy told TOI. But it is clear that the divide is here to stay and that a split on regional lines is waiting to happen anytime soon.
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DS counting days in Gandhi Bhavan


A humiliating defeat on personal front and a complete rout for Congress party in the recent byelections have forced Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas to reconcile to the fact that retirement from state politics is just round the corner. With party organisational elections slated for September this year,the PCC chief is counting days in Gandhi Bhavan.He arrived to another round of silent welcome at the party headquarters on Thursday,unlike the hype and hoopla until last month,just before byelections.
In an informal chat with reporters in his chambers,the PCC chief sounded remorseful as he could not live up to the faith reposed in him by the high command. The PCC chief remained non-committal on whether he was trying to shift to the national capital or take up a new assignment from the AICC.His associates,however,said the PCC chief was strong enough to take any election defeat into his stride.The PCC chief is mentally preparing himself for a special assignment from the high command,which he feels would bring out the best of his political skills, said a close associate of DS.

Going by earlier precedents,the next PCC chief would in all probability be nominated from Telangana region as the top post (CM) has gone to Andhra region and the post of Speaker to Rayalaseema region.
Congress party sources said,The PCC chief is not aspiring for another term.There will be no third term for him.That is for sure. At the last count,top names that are said to have the backing of DS include SC leaders Mallu Ravi and Nandi Yellaiah,K R Suresh Reddy and K Jana Reddy.Srinivas close aides said the PCC chief would want to be accommodated as one of the many AICC general secretaries in the party or be given a special assignment in any of the states.
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(source-toi)