Srihari, Rajaiah Clash At Ghanpur Program

Two senior TRS leaders and former Deputy Chief Ministers of Telangana, Kadiyam Srihari and T Rajaiah, who have been rivals for years, today engaged in a war of words.

The comments made by MLA and former Deputy CM Dr Thatikonda Rajaiah, that the public representatives from his constituency did not need to pay "undue attention" to leaders whose terms had finished, left his arch-rival and former Deputy CM Kadiyam Srihari bristling.

It all began when Rajaiah and Srihari were both invited to attend an official program at Station Ghanpur. During the event, the local officials reportedly began to pay more attention to Srihari than to the MLA prompting him to lash out at them.

In response, Srihari too slammed his old rival and made clear his belief that there was no need for any formal guidelines according to which to engage in public service or events. He said that he would stand by the people of Ghanapur constituency in their happy and sad moments as the locals were the ones who had supported his "political birth".

"I do not need anybody's permission to visit Ghanpur. I will continue to work hard for the party and the people for the years to come. I have worked hard and honestly as a public representative. So, nobody, not even current MLAs, has the right to stop me from meeting the people and standing by them. I may not be in office right now, but I will continue to work for my party and my people," he asserted.

Rajaiah and Kadiyam have been rivals for years. The two Dalit leaders, however, became sworn enemies after Rajaiah, who was sacked within seven months of becoming the deputy CM, was replaced by Srihari in 2015.