Trouble seems to be brewing for the ruling YSR Congress Party with its senior leader, Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, writing to the State Director General of Police, seeking the withdrawal of gunmen provided to him.
Mr. Srinivasa Reddy is reportedly upset with how the police investigated the case of fake title deed documents and land grabbing in the city, according to sources close to the former Energy Minister. While the police allowed some Telugu Desam Party leaders who were also allegedly behind such scams to go scot-free, his followers were put into trouble.
The development is seen as a setback for the ruling party in Prakasam district ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
Tiff with Sajjala
Mr. Srinivasa Reddy, YSRCP MLA from Ongole, who has been calling the shots in YSRCP in Prakasam district since its formation, has been getting distanced from Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy ever since he had expressed his strong displeasure against party’s Political Adviser Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, after getting dropped from the State Cabinet mid-way through the current term.
Mr. Srinivasa Reddy’s admirers also burnt the effigy of the party when he got dropped from the cabinet, even as his cabinet colleague Audimulapu Suresh. Mr. Suresh from Yerragondapalem in the district was retained and also given the key post of Municipal Administration.
Subsequently, despite the intervention by the Chief Minister, he refused to take back his resignation as the party’s regional coordinator of the Nellore zone. Police personnel denying him entry near the helipad during the Chief Minister’s visit to Markapur during that period came as a precipitative action for his quitting the post then. He was also uncomfortable with handling the party affairs in SPSR Nellore, Balaji and Chittoor districts, sources said.
Alternative power centres
He also found the going tough in the party in Prakasam district following the emergence of alternative power centres, including the one led by former Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams (TTD) Chairman and former Ongole MP Y.V.Subba Reddy, and the incumbent Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, who nurtured their own second-rung leaders in the seven Assembly segments in the district.
