Naik made a veiled reference to Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod, who he sees as his rival in Dornakal, despite serving the same party.
Dornkal happens to be the home constituency of both Redya Naik and Satyavathi Rathod. (Twitter)
BRS Dornakal MLA DS Redya Naik has set the cat among the pigeons by saying that there were one-too-many wreckers within the party working at cross-purposes.
Redya Naik, who does not see eye-to-eye with Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod, alleged that a deep-rooted conspiracy was underway to defeat him in the next elections by his own party men.
“The party is riven with self-centred leaders who are minting money using the image of the party. They want to continue in positions of power perpetually,” he said, going to the extent of saying that his adversaries within his own party were “waiting for him to die”.
In a veiled reference to Rathod, the Dornkal MLA cautioned party workers against coming under his rival’s spell. “You should know who is a genuine party leader. In the next elections, you should elect those who are working sincerely for the party and not those who want to exploit the party for their own gain. These thieves masquerading as party loyalists should be taught a lesson,” he said.
The former minister had made these comments at the Athmeeya Sammelan organised at Ayyagaripalle in Kuravi mandal, Mahabubabad, on Wednesday. The Dornkal MLA, speaking at the meeting chaired by his daughter MP Maloth Kavitha, was not attended by Rathod or her supporters.
The rivalry between Naik and Rathod spans over three decades. Though they are in the same party, they are always at daggers drawn. When N Chandrababu Naidu was calling the shots in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Rathod was in the TDP.
Naik, who was in Congress, was a protégé of late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. He became a minister in Rajasekhara Reddy’s Cabinet later and held the tribal welfare portfolio.
Satyavathi Rathod joined the BRS in 2013, after reading the writing on the wall that TDP’s days were numbered. She fought the 2014 election on the BRS ticket but Redya Naik, who contested on the Congress ticket, won the election. Later, he joined the BRS too.
Naik is a six-time MLA, while Rathod has won only once from Dornakal in 2009 on the TDP ticket by defeating him. After she lost again in 2014, she was taken into the Legislative Council by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. She later became a minister for tribal welfare.
In 2018, KCR re-nominated Redya Naik and took Satyavathi Rathod into his Cabinet in 2019.
As Dornkal happens to be their home constituency, they are trying to outsmart each other in being in the good books of the chief minister and get the nomination for the seat in the next elections.
With KCR already announcing that all the sitting MLAs would get tickets once again, Redya Naik is confident that he would get the party nomination.
Though there were indications that Rathod may be asked to contest from Mulugu, she is apparently keen on being in the fray from Dornkal. It remains to be seen how KCR will resolve this thorny issue.
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