It is said there were different reasons for the death of Karna in Mahabharata war. Same can be explained in the case of Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas, who is losing miserably to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Y Lakshminarayana in the by-elections to Nizamabad urban constituency.

Though a strong Telangana sentiment among the urban voters, the good reputation of Lakshminarayana, the bad reputation of DS family, the joint campaign by Telangana JAC, the TRS and the BJP cadres and disinterest of the minority voters are said the be the reasons for the PCC president’s defeat, there is also another reason: the internal sabotage.

According to sources, the powerful Reddy community in Nizamabad district worked against DS in the elections. The community led by former Speaker K R Suresh Reddy, Medical Education Minister P Sudershan Reddy and former minister S Santosh Reddy allegedly funded a minority candidate who contested from Praja Telangana Samithi (a splinter group of Praja Rajyam Party). This person was responsible for purchasing the Muslim voters in the last minute and told them either to vote for him, or stay away from the polling. And this made all the difference!