The simmering discontent among aspirants for Telangana Rashtra Samithi ticket in the coming elections took a serious turn on Wednesday as a supporter of former Chennur MLA Nallala Odelu, who was denied renomination by the party, set himself on fire at Indaram village of Jaipur mandal.
One more immolation bid by a TRS worker at Sattupalli in Khammam district was foiled by his friends.
The incidents brought into sharp focus continued resentment among party leaders and their supporters for the fifth consecutive day following dissolution of the Assembly and announcement of names of TRS candidates for polls in 105 out of 119 Assembly constituencies. Mr. Odelu was one of the two sitting MLAs of TRS who were dropped by the party; the other being Mr. Babu Mohan from Andole constituency.
Peddapalli MP Balka Suman, who was named in place of Mr. Odelu, tried to elicit the cooperation of the latter in the last five days but it met with stiff resistance. Mr. Odelu even went to the extent of claiming that he will emerge as the party candidate eventually.
Elsewhere at Sattupalli, TRS workers threw water at Sali Nagaraju in Rejarla village immediately after he doused himself in kerosene demanding ticket for Matta Dayanand Vijaykumar. It was at the invitation of Roads and Buildings Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, with a promise of being appointed Sattupalli (SC) constituency in-charge, that he he joined the TRS, Mr. Vijaykumar claimed.
Demonstrations and bike rallies demanding the nomination of Scheduled Castes Corporation Chairman Pidamarthi Ravi and MLA in the dissolved Assembly Banoth Madanlal in Sattupalli (SC) and Wyra (ST) constituencies respectively be withdrawn have continued in the last two days.
Some elected representatives also faxed their resignation letters to the Chief Minister’s office.
A demonstration demanding denial of ticket to TRS MLA Jalagam Venkat Rao from Kothagudem was also organised by supporters of Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy on Tuesday.
The nomination of sitting MLAs Maganti Gopinath and K. Yadaiah in Jubilee Hills and Chevella constituencies was also resented. The opposition to Mr. Gopinath’s candidature came from Mr. Murali Goud while former Ranga Reddy Zilla Parishad Chairman K.S. Ratnam, who was the party candidate in 2014 elections demanded renomination. The latter threatened to contest polls as an Independent if he was overlooked.
