TDP-Congress Lock Horns Over Serlingampally

Serlingampally constituency in Ranga Reddy district has emerged as the bone of contention between partners of the grand alliance or Mahakutami. on the one hand, the Telugu Desam party thinks that it stands a good chance of bagging the seat on account of the large number of 'settlers' in the area. On the other, the Congress is reluctant to let go of the seat because it thinks that it stands to gain if it fields veteran war horses like Bikshapathy Yadav from here.

The simmering discontent between two factions of Telugu Desam Party erupted into the open yesterday during the course of a motorbike rally in Hydernagar in support of ticket aspirant Venigalla Ananda Prasad, who has been among the frontrunners for the ticket. However, supporters of another contender for the seat Movva Satyanarayana were furious that they hadn't been informed about the rally in support of Anand Prasad and tried to block it. There were vocal arguments between the two groups and police had to intervene to disperse them. At the same time, supporters of former MLA from Serlingampally Bhikshapathy Yadav staged a protest at the Congress headquarters at Gandhi Bhavan demanding that the ticket be given to him. The situation of the protest which went on for about seven hours became intense when two supporters of the former MLA attempted suicide while yet another follower slashed his hand with a knife.

Yadav's supporters sat on protest on the steps of Gandhi Bhavan demanding a ticket for him.

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