Rumblings are said to have surfaced between the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the Anantapur district, with leaders of both parties clashing over the appointment of certain officers in the district.
The issue is believed to have arisen with the reappointment of Dharmavaram municipal commissioner V. Mallikarjuna three days ago.
This official, who was originally posted to Dharmavaram in 2021, is said to be close to the then-YSRCP MLA Kethireddy Venkatrami Reddy.
During his tenure, the municipal commissioner was allegedly responsible for targeting the TDP leaders, particularly the constituency in-charge, Paritala Sriram.
The TDP leaders claimed that Mallikarjuna had canceled the land pattas of farmers and reallocated them to YSRCP workers.
Sriram also alleged that the municipal commissioner was responsible for the removal of Dharmavaram municipal chairperson K. Nirmala and the installation of Kethireddy’s follower, Kacharla Lakshmi.
In several other decisions, the commissioner reportedly favored the YSRCP and ignored the TDP.
A few months before the elections, Mallikarjuna was transferred to Adoni. However, after the TDP-led National Democratic Alliance came to power, he began lobbying to return to Dharmavaram.
Apparently, local BJP MLA and current state health minister Y. Satya Kumar is believed to have played a significant role in getting Mallikarjuna transferred back to Dharmavaram from Adoni.
This has angered the local TDP leaders, especially Paritala Sriram.
He reportedly called Satya Kumar and questioned how a municipal commissioner who had acted in favor of the YSRCP government could be posted back to the same place.
“We are investigating who was responsible for bringing this man back to Dharmavaram. We will not allow him to continue in the post,” Sriram said, adding that he would take up the matter with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
