ANANTAPUR: Bickering in the Telugu Desam Party over party ticket for municipal elections became public and took an ugly turn at the party office here on Thursday in the presence of several State and district leaders. The district secretary of the party, Y. Subrahmanyam, was beaten up by a

party sympathiser, K. Sudhakar Naidu alias Varadapuram Suri, and a dozen of his associates.

The party observer to the district, R. Ramachandraiah, the Polit Bureau member, K. Srinivasulu, the president, V. Hanumantharaya Chowdary, the general secretary, B.K. Parthasarathi, and several other senior leaders remained mute spectators to the unexpected event. Interestingly, both Mr. Subrahmanyam and Mr. Sudhakar Naidu were close associates of Paritala Ravindra.

Varadapuram Suri and his associates were talking to a few party leaders in the open yard on the office premises when Mr. Subrahmanyam entered the premises. As the latter reached Suri and exchanged a few words (possibly pleasantries) Suri and his men pounced on Subrahmanyam and rained blows for 10 minutes before the party leaders could come to his rescue after realising what was happening. After completing their task Suri and his men coolly walked out and left.

The party leaders, including the Uravankonda legislator P. Keshav, later told newspersons that party would not yield and give ticket such aspirants who used muscle power. They condemned the incident as "unfortunate." Asked whether they would complain to the police the party leaders said they would take a decision after consulting the leadership of the party.

They claimed that Suri was not a member of the party but was only a sympathiser.

He was presumably seeking ticket of his choice (37th division) in Anantapur Municipal Corporation and was under the impression that Mr. Subrahmanyam was a hurdle. They, however, noted that there was no specific request made by him to the party.

Even if he was seeking a ticket of his choice, he should have brought it to the notice of the party so that it could consider his request while taking a decision. The party had not announced its candidate to the division so far, they said.

Woman's name suggested

Meanwhile, sources in the party stated that Suri had suggested a woman's name for the division and Mr. Subrahmanyam was opposing it as she was a relative of the latter.

Suri was a strong follower of Ravi till 2000 but the two maintained a distance till the last Assembly elections.

Suri first tried for Congress ticket from Dharmavaram and when he failed, he worked for Ravi in Penukonda and Dharmavaram.

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