In a rude shock to ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi headed by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, senior party leader and former MLA Somarapu Satyanarayana resigned from the party on Tuesday claiming that there was no freedom in it.

Satyanarayana, who represented Ramagundam assembly constituency in Peddapalli district twice between 2009 and 2018, also served as chairman of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) till recently.

He was defeated in the December 7 assembly elections by a party rebel K Chander Rao, who later joined the TRS. Since then, Satyanarayana had been sulking in the party.

Though the ex-MLA said he would decide on the future course of action soon after discussing with his followers, unconfirmed reports said he was in negotiations with the Bharatiya Janata Party and might join the saffron party soon.

Announcing his resignation from the TRS, the 75-year-old Satyanarayana alleged that there was no internal democracy in the TRS and that it was being run like a monarchy. He did not name Rao or KCR as he is better known.

“There is no freedom even for seniors like me to take up party activities in my constituency. I have not been given any role even in the ongoing membership drive and the leadership did not even give me membership forms,” he told reporters in Ramagundam, about 220 km north of Hyderabad.

Satyanarayana said that a section of TRS leaders were harassing him and his followers with the support of local police. He also blamed Balka Suman, former TRS MP and present MLA from Chennur, for his defeat in the assembly elections.

Suman, however, rubbished Satyanarayana’s allegations. He said there was no way he would work against the party candidate and defeat him. “I am a disciplined soldier of the party. I was concentrating on my own election from Chennur and I had no business to interfere in Ramagundam,” he explained.

The MLA said Satyanarayana had own his reasons to quit the TRS. “I will leave his comments to his conscience,” he said.

The TRS had already lost another senior leader and former MP G Vivek who resigned from the party before the Parliament elections. His elder brother and former state minister G Vinod, had also resigned from the TRS before the assembly elections and contested unsuccessfully from Bellampalli. Both of them are also expected to join the BJP shortly.

The BJP which won only one seat in the 119-member Telangana assembly in the state polls in December 2018, fared much better in the 2019 general elections winning four of the 17 Lok Sabah seats. The TRS which had set itself a target of winning 16 Lok Sabha seats could win only nine.

First Published: Jul 09, 2019 16:47 IST