Etala associate, ZP head Putta Madhukar missing

A heated discussion is on in political circles here about the lack of visibility of the Peddapalli Zilla Parishad chairperson Putta Madhukar.

From the time former minister Etala Rajendar started facing the allegation of encroachment of assigned lands in Achampet and Hakimpet in Medak district, Madhukar went into isolation and is not available even on the phone to his close associates and to the people’s representatives of Peddapalli district.

Madhukar had participated in the election campaign for the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) as TRS election in-charge. After completing the campaign, he disappeared from the scene. This, shortly after some allegations against former minister Etala Rajendar were telecast by the media at night.

For the past few days, news spread across the district that `2 crore was given by someone to a gang for killing the high court advocate couple Gattu Vaman Rao and P.V. Nagamani earlier this year, and that the state government has taken a serious note of this. One of the accused in the advocates’ murder, Bittu Srinu, was the nephew of Madhukar. This apart, with the Etala issue coming to the fore and Madhukar being a close associate of Rajendar, the disappearance of Madhukar raises eyebrows.

Meanwhile, representatives of the TRS’ Manthani constituency jointly condemned the news of the disappearance of the ZP chairperson from the constituency. They said that it was with the blessings of MLC K. Kavitha in 2014 that Madhukar got a TRS ticket. After winning the poll with a good majority, he has been striving hard for strengthening the party from the grassroots level and developed Manthani constituency in multiple ways. They said that when he lost the assembly elections in 2018, chief minister Chandrashekar Rao, IT minister KT Rama Rao and MLC K Kavitha recognized his services to the party and offered him the ZP chairperson post. “Madhukar, along with all the people’s representatives of Manthani constituency will be loyal to the TRS party,” they said.

“Since Etala Rajendar was one of the ministers in the KCR cabinet, Madhukar had moved a little close to him, but will not go against the party under any circumstance. Some leaders are trying to split the TRS party in the Manthani constituency by taking Etala’s exit from the ministry as the right opportunity,” they alleged.

They said the TRS party and CM KCR are always supreme for them and that “we will always try to strengthen the leadership of KCR and KTR.”