Is the blood feud raising its ugly head again?

Is the blood feud between the two major political families - Vangaveeti and Devineni - slowly raising its ugly head again in Vijayawada city? For about a decade the city saw no major flare-up between them. Two incidents in the last couple of weeks, however, indicate re-emergence of the rivalry. Though both the family scions have brushed it aside stating them as minor incidents, but the undercurrent is palpable.

On Sunday former Congress MLA Devineni Rajsekhar (Nehru) and his son Devineni Avinash organised a meeting in the 23rd Division at Krishnalanka. A huge flexi portraying both the father and son along with the pictures of Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan was put up near the Kapu Sangam office on the occasion.

According to Mr Avinash this irked a few YSR Congress cadres and they along with a Sub-Inspector of police from Krishnalanka Police Station pulled it down. “We wanted to file a police case against the YSRC member and the police officer concerned, but on the advice of my father we did not go ahead with it,” he said, adding,

“It was a small issue and we have not taken it up seriously, but unfortunately ‘some persons’ are trying to gain mileage out of it.”

Krishnalanka is predominantly a Kapu base and it is a known fact that both the communities Kapu and Kamma are at loggerheads.

The Devineni’s are Kammas and a few members of the Kapu community did not like his poster along with two other Kapu leaders (Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan) be placed near the Sangam office, said YSR Congress leader Vangaveeti Radhakrishna, who hails from the Kapu Community and is the son of the legendary Kapu leader Vangaveeti Mohan Ranga Rao.

The poster was removed by members of the community, as they felt that the Devineni’s were trying to polarise the community vote bank by using the image of Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. It was a small issue and it need not be flared up by them, said Mr. Radhakrishna.

Similarly on December 6, a clash was averted by the timely action of the police between Mr. Radhakrishna and TDP youth wing leader and nephew of Nehru, Devineni Chandrasekhar.

A senior police officer is apprehensive that both the incidents could just be the beginning of the revival of the rivalry.

And unfortunately it is likely that both Mr. Radhakrishna and Nehru will be battling out for the Assembly seat in the coming elections from Vijayawada- East constituency, he said.

While Mr. Radha is tipped to lead the YSRC, Mr. Nehru is likely to fight on a Congress ticket. If that happens, then it will be for the first time that they will be pitching against each other.

In 2004, Mr. Radha had won from Vijayawada East on a Congress ticket and Mr. Nehru had also won with a Congress ticket from Kankipadu. In 2009, both Mr. Radha and Nehru lost the elections.

While Radha fought on a PRP ticket and lost to Malladi Vishnu of Congress in the Vijayawada- Central, Mr. Nehru lost to PRP candidate Yellamanchili Ravi in Vijayawada – East.