Dharmapuri Srinivas’ defection to ruling TRS is unlikely to greatly change the political equations in Nizambad district.
D Srinvas (DS), a Munnuru Kapu, was a leader of standing in district some time back when TRS was not in the picture and TDP was the only rival.
After advent of TRS into the political arena, Sriniva’s clout as the tall leader of the party began to fade away.His defeat in the past successive election bears testimony to this. The last election he won was the Assembly election held in 2004 from Nizambad Urban constituency, when Congress fought in alliance with fledgling TRS. He lost every election he fought later. In 2009 he lost to BJP candidate Y Lakshminarayana. In the by-election held in 2010, following the resignation of all Telangana MLAs demanding Telangana, D Srinivas could not wrest the seat from Lakshminarayana. He lost again by 12600 votes. He could not recover in 2014 election either, even after Congress granted the Telangana separate state.
He shifted his base to Nizambad rural. The Congress heavy weight was trounced by Bajireddy Goverdhan Reddy, who joined the TRS party just two days ago. The series of defeats have tarnished his image as a leader of Congress. In between the Congress nominated him to the Council. So, observers say his joining would not add up anything to TRS politically except for the negative publicity to the Congress.
Why TRS Wants DS
TRS wants to make Nizambad Lok Sabha Constituency pocket borough of Kavita, party MP and daughter of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. By weaning away all the opposition leaders, TRS wants the constituency an Amethi for Kavita. To achieve this goal, a strong hype need to be created in state about how Congress is becoming irrelevant. After DS, former Congress minister and senior leader Sudarshan Reddy is likely target of TRS. With this, Congress will be left with only leader, former MP Madhu Yaski, who is now AICC spokesperson in Delhi.
Last Ditch Attempt
Congress’ last ditch attempt to pacify D Srinivas has failed. Accompanied by TPCC working president Mallu Bhattivikramarkha, D Sridhar Babu, DK Aruna etc. PCC president N Uttamkumar Reddy tried to meet Srinivas this morning. But, before the team arrived at his Banjara Hills resident, DS had already left for the residence of chief minister KCR. The team got back to Gandhi Bhavan without meeting DS.
Srinivas is expected to send his resignation letter to the party president Sonia Gandhi tomorrow.
