Old friends should not fall apart. If they fall apart, they should remain silent and should have a gentlemanly agreement not to wash each other’s linen in public. Two former friends – ex-minister Gollapalli Surya Rao and Razole MLA Rapaka Varaprasad, have perhaps forgotten this golden rule. Hence, they are exposing one another’ s ‘shady; pasts.

Gollapalli Surya Rao, who shifted to the TDP from the Congress, and Rapaka, who won on Jana Sena ticket but is now a cohort of the YSRCP, were political colleagues at one time. Now they have parted company and fought against each other in 2019 elections. Even after the election results, they stopped short of levelling personal allegations.

But these days, both are criticising each other and the criticism is more about their personal affairs rather than party ideologies. Gollapalli said that Rapaka spends more time playing game of cards and that he gambles away his money. Rapaka returned the fire by saying that Gollapalli used to come all the way from Ravulapalem to Razole to play cards with him. He said wen lost, Gollapalli used to default on payment.

Thanks to the wordy war, the issue of VIP gambling has now come to the fore. According to Gollapalli, Rapaka was caught red-handed gambling in Malkipuram. Both are now making personal allegations against one another. Now the people of Razole are cracking jokes about the politicians and their gambles.