Faction politics threatened to mar the Panchayat elections at Kalvagunta village in Veldurthy mandal but after a persisted effort by police, situation was defused on Friday. The mandal has been a hot bed of faction politics for years and has been a bone of contention between the Congress and the Telugu Desam.
On Thursday, the village resembled a war zone as supporters of Macherla MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy and his uncle and former MLA Pinnelli Laxma Reddy almost came to blows with each other. Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy, is the nephew of Laxma Reddy and has been elected from Macherla on Congress ticket in 2009. But he switched loyalties to YSR Congress Party and in by-election held in 2012, was re-elected as MLA after defeating Laxma Reddy. The village has been reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) community and Laxma Reddy persuaded one Hanuman Naik to file the nomination papers. But within a day, Naik changed his mind and said that he would not contest the election. An infuriated Laxma Reddy alleged that Naik was intimidated by the family members of Ramakrishna Reddy. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Gurazala, I. Pooja counselled both the parties and warned them against disturbing peace in the village. Later in the day, Naik filed his papers.
