One of the bitterest wars in Telangana is being fought in the Richie rich Maheshwaram Assembly constituency. And the war is not being fought between leaders from rival parties, but from the leaders from the same party – the ruling TRS. The fight is extremely bitter and no-holds-barred.
Hyderabad’s former mayor Teejagala Krishna Reddy and Minister Sabitha Reddy have been traditional rivals. In 2014, Teegala defeated Sabhitha on TDP ticket. Later, he joined the TRS and lost to Sabitha in the 2019 elections. Sabitha, who won on the Congress ticket, later joined the TRS and became a minister. Thus, both the rivals are now in the same party and Sabitha surely has an upper hand as she is a minister.
In a balancing act, KCR made Teegala’s daughter-in-law Teegala Anitha the zilla parishad chief. Despite that, the rivalry is continuing. Though both Anitha and Sabitha make appearances together and display on camera bonhomie, both are trying to undercut one another. Meanwhile, Sabitha is said to be gradually weaning away Teegala’s traditional supporters with sops. This has led to bad blood between both the groups.
Though elections are a good one year away, both Teegala and Sabitha are making every effort to get the party ticket. Teegala is said to be in touch with other parties to spring a surprise in case he is not given the party ticket. Meanwhile, senior TRS leader Kotha Manohar Reddy has reportedly thrown his hat in the ring. His argument is that both Anitha and Sabitha are rank outsiders and that he has been loyal to the party all through. It remains to be seen what twists and turns the Maheswaram political drama takes.