TDP leader Rayapati Sambasiva Rao and present BJP leader Kanna Lakshminarayana have been the bitter political rivals in the Guntur district politics for decades.
The rivalry started when they both were in the Congress and the squabbles were quite open for everyone.
Even the Congress party leaders were divided between the two. This division for the cadre was not tough, but it was too tough for the leaders.
When at the height of the rivalry, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao made allegations of corruption against Kanna Lakshminarayana in 2010.
Kanna reacted sharply to these allegations and had filed a defamation suit against Rayapati for Rs 1 crore.
The case was taken up in the 4th additional district judge court for all these years.
While Rayapati is now in the opposition TDP, Kanna is in the BJP and was the president of the party state unit for some time ago.
Surprisingly, the two leaders buried the hatchet in the presence of the judge in the court on Tuesday.
They were both present in the court before the judge, who took up the case for hearing and final settlement.
It is said that Rayapati withdrew his allegations against Kanna, while the latter withdrew the defamation case, ending the decade old battle.
While Kanna said that Rayapati withdrew his allegations in the presence of the judge, Rayapati told the media that Kanna withdrew the case and hence he withdrew his remarks!
Though the battle ended, who withdrew first and who compromised is still a mystery!
Another big question is who is behind the compromise! It is said that TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu engineered the scheme as he paved the way for Kanna to join the TDP for the 2024 general elections.
Naidu is leaving no stone unturned to bring all the anti-Jagan forces united and the votes remained undivided to defeat the YSRCP.
