Rudely jolted by the Vanama Raghava incident in Kothagudem, the ruling TRS in Telangana is now trying to know the impact of “son stroke” in various constituencies of the party. The party’s internal survey has shown that there are at least 35constituencies where the MLA sons are behaving like law unto themselves.

The study, commissioned by the TRS top bosses , showed at in most constituencies, the MLA’s family members are ruling the roost. But, there are at last 35 constituencies where the sons are hugely unpopular. They are seen as tormentors by the general public. In several constituencies, even the party workers are feeling the pinch of the excesses of MLA sons.

In fact, the TRS is promoting youthful leaders and there are expectations that the party would promote more youths in the 2023 elections to enable KTR to lead a team of young MLAs. While many are learning ropes and are preparing themselves for the big job. In some cases, sons-in-laws and even daughters are working hard. For instance, Minister Malla Reddy’s daughter and son-in-law are working hard. Similarly, Kadiyam Srihari’s daughter is also working hard to win the confidence of the party bosses. But, the party is now finding that there are some ‘bad apples’ too.

The Vanama Raghava episode, where the MLA’s son sought sexual favours from a woman and drove her family of four to immolate themselves, has come as an eye-opener. Though the party initially tried to bail out Raghava, it soon realised that backing his excesses would prove counterproductive. Now the party is planning to weed out such elements from the party.