Former minister Konda Surekha and her husband Murali joined the TRS on Tuesday, but their switch from the Congress to the pink party came amid dramatic developments.
TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao’s apparent promise to give Surekha Warangal East Assembly constituency sent partymen in the segment into a rage - party constituency incharge Vidyasagar called a meeting of his supporters and demanded that the seat should not be allotted to an outsider.
Adding to the tension in Warangal, a TRS worker, opposed to the Konda couple, attempted self-immolation. Earlier, the Konda couple met Telangana PCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah in the morning before donning the pink party colours, much to the TRS leadership’s discomfort. However, Ponnala’s efforts to persuade the couple to stay put in the Congress proved futile.
And soon enough, Surekha, who was once a bitter critic of KCR, joined the TRS in his presence, but not before holding talks with him for nearly two hours. A formal announcement of her entry into the TRS was announced in the presence of KCR’s son KT Rama Rao.
According to sources, KCR promised her Warangal East Assembly seat and an MLC seat to her husband in return for helping party candidates in Bhoopalpalle (where Murali has a following) and Parakal (where Surekha has considerable support) win the elections.
Surekha will be facing former minister Basavaraju Saraiah in Warangal East and felling him may not be that easy for the simple reason that the constituency is new to her and she would have to begin from scratch. Then there is TRS constituency incharge Vidyasagar, who has been left in the lurch. Inducting the Konda couple into the party, KCR said his dream was to build a Telangana of million smiles where everyone is happy. He wanted the couple to be partners in the development of “golden Telangana.”
