Rebellion brews, KT Rama Rao turns trouble-shooter

HYDERABAD: With rebels creating a ruckus in several constituencies, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, who announced the first list of 105 candidates on September 6, has left it to his son, IT minister KT Rama Rao to douse the raging fire of dissidence. As KCR has made himself unavailable to party leaders trying to meet him to get party ticket or to change the sitting legislators who have been re-nominated, KTR has emerged as the ‘go-to man’ for desperate leaders and cadre.
Party sources said while KCR is not accessible to all because of his pre-occupation with working out strategies for a massive win for the party in the elections, KTR is meeting only those who matter the most in the party.“If he refuses to meet anyone, the signal is loud and clear that they are free to take any decision they want to as their demand, however big, will not be met,” sources said. In fact, KTR has too many things on his plate right now. KTR has had to handle an issue pertaining to the nomination of Bethi Subhash Reddy as party candidate from Uppal constituency. When local leaders expressed unhappiness on Subhash’s nomination, KTR patients heard them but ruled out change of the candidate.

Ramagundam MLA Somarapu Satyanarayana was so vexed with open revolt against him that he even declared that he would not enter the fray this time round. Satyanarayana, who is chairman of TSRTC, was annoyed that the party leadership was taking no interest to tell the party faction leaders that their indiscipline would not be tolerated. When the situation threatened to go out of hands, KTR pitched in. He called up Satyanarayana and asked him not to take any hasty decision. The following day he was asked to come to Pragathi Bhavan where he was assured of the party leadership’s total support.
Andhole sitting legislator Babu Mohan, who was dropped from the race, tried in vain to get KTR’s appointment. Babu Mohan was replaced by journalist Kranti Kiran. Though KCR had announced that he had word with the candidates who have been dropped, it turns out that they were not personally intimated by the party chief. Babu Mohan jumped sides and is now with the BJP.
With KCR making it clear that ‘pointsman’ for all important decisions is KTR, Warangal East sitting MLA Konda Surekha made a desparate bid to contact the latter when her name was not there in the list of 105 candidates. Her name was kept on hold. An annoyed Surekha joined the Congress.