Relations between the BJP and the TDP further strained in Srikakulam district with the former keen to get Mayor’s post in the ensuing Srikakulam Municipal Corporation elections.
BJP leaders declared that it was the responsibility of the TDP to reciprocate its help extended in 2014 general election. BJP was not allocated a single Assembly constituency in the district although it was tipped to get at least two seats Itchapuram and Narasannapeta.
However, the TDP had pacified BJP leaders saying that they didn’t have strength in those constituencies. After the Assembly election, the TDP leaders have been ignoring BJP leaders by not inviting them to the developmental activities.
The party activists were not made members of Janmabhoomi Committees, which play a key role in selection of beneficiaries for government schemes. Works on nomination basis also have not been given to the BJP leaders.
District BJP leaders brought the issue to the notice of party State president K. Haribabu and urged him to give them a free hand in taking up the activities at grassroots-level. Senior BJP leaders strongly felt that Mayoral election was the right opportunity to test their political fortunes. BJP Srikakulam city wing president Challa Venkateswara Rao said that TDP had no right to declare that it would contest for the first citizen’s post. “TDP should not forget that it had won 7 out 10 Assembly seats with the BJP’s support. Many people voted for the alliance due to Narendra Modi wave during election. Now, TDP should give chance to BJP to grow politically in the district,” he added. TDP leaders differed with their argument and said TDP had been strong at the district headquarters for the last three decades and it should be the natural choice for the Mayor’s post. “BJP did not have even 100 activists in Srikakulam but sought the top post of the corporation. It is ridiculous. We can win the post even without BJP’s support,” said a TDP leader.
