Ayyanna Patrudu puts Desam in crisis

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Jan 20: The fire that was ignited in Vizag unit of Telugu Desam (TD) with the resignation of Ayyana Patrudu from the party’s politburo on Saturday refuses to die down. TD is now divided into two groups in the district. On Sunday there was a flurry of meetings by groups loyal to Patrudu and those owing allegiance to his arch rival Bandaru Satyanrayana Murthy.  Around 12 party ward members and secretaries of Gajuwaka including former district party secretary, Kona Tata Rao resigned from their party posts in support of Ayyana Patrudu.

Earlier a group of former TD corporators held an internal meeting at a private hotel and deplored Ayyana Patrudu resigning from the party post without discussing the issue with anyone. Another group from the west constituency committee in the evening held a meeting and expressed dissatisfaction at the party’s decision to suspend their leader Peela Srinivasa Rao without issuing a show cause notice or giving him any chance to give his version of the incident that took place on January 18 on the occasion of party founder NTR Vardhanthi.

“Its unfortunate that Peela Srinivas Rao was suspended without giving him any chance to depose. These kinds of acts by party central leadership would definitely send wrong signals to the cadres. We request the party leadership to rethink on the suspension and appoint a committee to inquire into what happened on January 18. In fact Peela Srinivasa Rao was not at the spot when scuffle took place in Pendurthy on the day of NTR death anniversary,” said former corporator, Seeram Pydi Raju.

Interestingly, another TD senior leader and party floor leader in legislative council, Dadi Veerabhadhra Rao issued a stern warning to the cadre saying groups in the party will not be tolerated and also told them not to go to media on the issue anymore.

He told reporters at the party office on Sunday afternoon that TD chief Chandrababu Naidu would very soon announce the names of two observers who are going to inquire into the January 18 incident.

He also added that Ayyana Patrudu’s resignation was not accepted by the party chief and he is still a party politburo member. Veerabhadra Rao on Sunday met Ayyana Patrudu at his residence in Narsipatnam and tried to convince him to withdraw his resignation.