Firebrand YSR Congress party MLA and actress R K Roja came out of the Telugu Desam Party after her defeat in the 2009 assembly elections, alleging that her own party leaders cheated on her and worked against her in the party; and Naidu failed to come to her rescue.
She later joined the YSR Congress party and turned a bitter critic of Naidu, which she has been till now. Unfortunately for her, she seems to be facing the same situation in the YSRC, too, which she had faced when she was in the TDP.
Though Roja is considered to be close to YSRC president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, she has been facing strong rebellion from within the party in her own bastion – Nagari assembly constituency.
She has not been able to get along with many of the party leaders in the district, as a result of which the party is vertically split in Nagari into pro-Roja and anti-Roja groups.
The anti-Roja group has the backing of a senior minister and another senior MLA of Chittoor district and she is finding it difficult to counter this group.
She has been lamenting that the officials of the district, too, were listening to her rival group, ignoring her, despite being a two-time MLA from Nagari.
Even during the recent local body elections, the rival group tried to dominate Roja and her followers, causing her a lot of embarrassment.
Now, the two groups are fighting over the celebration of Jagan’s birthday to be held on Tuesday. When the rival group put up posters, banners and flex boards all over Nagari, Roja got them removed and put up her own group’s posters celebrating the birthday.
Now, both the rival groups are planning to celebrate Jagan’s birthday independently.
The anti-Roja group is planning to take out a big rally with 10,000 people and conduct a public meeting at Puttur, adjacent to Nagari, besides conducting “Anna Danam” programme at four places.
Simultaneously, Roja, too, has been planning to hold similar rally and public meeting at Nagari by involving municipal chairman and councillors. This has caused a lot of confusion among the party cadres.
Roja will be able to retain her hold over the constituency, if she can get a berth in the state cabinet. “Otherwise, she may have to witness a great betrayal in the next elections,” sources said.