KTR is understood to have told him to exercise restraint while speaking about his BRS colleague lest it should lower the image of the party.
Kadiyam Srihari, Dr T Rajaiah.
In an attempt to contain further damage to the party, BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Tuesday, 11 July, summoned Station Ghanpur MLA T Rajaiah and read the riot act to him for locking horns with BRS MLC Kadiyam Srihari unmindful of the fact how much damage it would do the party’s interests.
For more than two hours, KTR was closeted with Rajaiah and reportedly inquired about the problem that he had with Srihari and why they were always engaged in verbal spats.
KTR is understood to have told him to exercise restraint while speaking about his BRS colleague lest it should lower the image of the party.
The legislator told KTR that henceforth he would ignore Srihari and make efforts to strengthen the party in his constituency.
The two legislators — former deputy chief ministers at different times — made accusations and counter-accusations against each other in the past few days, in a bid to have an upper hand over the constituency.
They were always at loggerheads, not caring how the people would think about them and the party.
After Rajaiah had accused Srihari of nepotism, and corruption, and that he was not a Dalit as he claimed, the latter hit back at him, wondering how he could make such uncharitable comments.
He asked Rajaiah to produce evidence that he had amassed properties in various cities in Telangana, Karnataka, and abroad, and said he would distribute them among the Dalits if he could prove his claim.
Srihari also took serious exception to Rajaiah’s utterances that he was holding talks with the Congress leaders to get an MLA ticket for himself for Station Ghanpur and another for his daughter in Wardhannapet.
Srihari hit back at him asking why he was dragging his daughter into the politics between them.
He also slammed Rajaiah for the insinuation that was not a Dalit as his mother was a padmashali, a Backward Class community.
Srihari said that he should have known that the Supreme Court had held in the past that the caste of the father, not that of the mother, comes to the son.
As sabre-rattling between the two leaders became more intense, KTR summoned Rajaiah to Hyderabad and reportedly warned him against continuing the wordy duel with Srihari.
Later Rajaiah told media persons that he only made a few allegations against Srihari, but reiterated that the latter had been campaigning that he was going to get the Station Ghanpur ticket though the party had not yet taken any decision.
He said whenever an MLA or MLC visits a constituency, it should help the party become stronger. But Srihari’s visits were only to protect and further his own interests.
He made it clear, however, that the controversy now lay buried.
“KTR has called and spoken to me. The controversy is over. I will not speak about Srihari,” he said, adding that he would strive to bolster the party in his constituency.
He said Srihari was arrogant and always harassed him, adding that he would continue to fight for the well-being of the Scheduled Caste Madigas. He said he would not utter a word even if Srihari taunts him.
Interestingly, Dr Rajaiah always finds himself at the centre of controversies.
In the first week of July, a woman sarpanch from Dharmasagar mandal alleged that Rajaiah had tried to sexually harass her on 11 March.
She alleged that Rajaiah misbehaved with her at several public meetings and government programmes held in the constituency and asked her to meet him in private in return for releasing funds for development works in the village.
She also claimed that she had phone call recordings as evidence and that she was ready to present them to the chief minister and the IT minister.
He tried to make amends with her on 13 March by visiting her house and regretting hurting her unintentionally. He promised to uphold the dignity of women.
The BRS also finds embarrassing the sexual harassment allegations made against Bellampalli BRS MLA Durgam Chinnaiah by a woman organiser of a dairy headquartered in Hyderabad.
She alleged that the MLA harassed her seeking sexual favours and when she refused, he asked her to fix other girls for him who work in her dairy. She also accused him of using his influence to have cases registered against her and her staff.
The MLA later denied all the allegations and contended that she was acting on behalf of his political rivals to malign his image.
Then came the corruption allegations against Janagaon MLA Muthireddy Yadaviri Reddy by his daughter.
Tulja Bhavani Reddy, the MLA’s daughter, accused him of grabbing 1,270 sq yards of prime government land in Cherial town and fraudulently registered it in her name by forging her signature.
She also said her father had illegally occupied a lake in the Janagoan district.
She said that she would return the land to the villagers and the municipal authorities in Cherial by following due legal process and apologised to them for her father’s greed.
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