After being silent for a few months, Kesineni Shivanath alias Chinni, prominent realtor-turned-politician from Vijayawada, has once again become active in the Telugu Desam Party politics, causing irritation to his elder brother and Vijayawada MP Kesineni Srinivas alias Nani.
Chinni had earlier said he had no interest whatsoever in Vijayawada parliamentary constituency and was just an ordinary TDP worker without any posts. He even said he had absolutely no differences with his elder brother Nani.
After the controversy over misuse of Nani’s MP sticker a few months ago, Chinni has become silent. And Nani, too, who was making controversial comments on the TDP leadership in general and party president N Chandrababu Naidu in particular, appears to have patched up with the boss.
But of late, Chinni is said to have become very active in Vijayawada city. While claiming that he has no interest in parliamentary elections, he has been reportedly focussing on assembly segments in the city, apparently with an eye on the assembly elections.
He has been touring parts of Vijayawada central, east and west assembly segments, interacting with party cadres, mingling with the people and opening Anna canteens. Hitherto, he was confined only to party activities in the rural areas, but now, he is seen everywhere in the TDP activities in urban areas of Vijayawada.
Interestingly, Chinni has become very active in Vijayawada (west) constituency, where his brother Nani is the party in-charge and is independently involved in the party programmes without Nani’s knowledge. He is also moving closely with the TDP leaders like Nagul Meera and Bonda Uma, who are into bitter rivalry with Nani.
This led to the talk that the TDP leadership is deliberately encouraging Chinni, who is more loyal to the party, compared to his brother, who is not getting along well with the party leadership.
Apparently, the TDP chief is learnt to have decided to groom an alternative leadership in Vijayawada, in the event of Nani revolting against the party and sabotage the interests of other candidates.
“If Nani remains loyal to the party and Naidu, he will be retained as the TDP candidate for the party from Vijayawada and Chinni will be given some other responsibility. But in the event of Nani giving a hand to the party at the eleventh hour, the TDP will have to look for alternative leadership and that’s where Chinni can play a bigger role,” a party source said.
