Another setback for Congress: Fire incident in Sircilla Rajaiah's home kills four; party changes candidate for Warangal bypoll

The Congress has suffered a severe credibility loss in Warangal Lok Sabha constituency after its candidate Sircilla Rajaiah’s daughter-in-law Sarika and her three children died in a fire incident in the early hours of Wednesday. The incident has forced the party to change its candidate and field former Union minister Sarve Satyanarayana in the place of Rajaiah, who opted out of the contest. The election to the SC reserved constituency is slated on November 21. The police questioned Rajaiah, a former lawmaker, his wife and son for several hours at their house and finally took them into custody. Women’s organisations have alleged foul play in the incident. Some activists intercepted the police vehicle near his house in Warangal and demanded action against him and his family members. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Bharatiya Janata Party too have raised questions over the incident. [caption id=“attachment_2495182” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sircilla Rajaiah. Image courtesy: Facebook[/caption] Several doubts are billowing out of the first floor bedroom in which Sarika and her three sons – Abhinav, Aryan and Sriyan – were roasted alive. Sarika had reportedly moved gas cylinders to her bedroom and turned on the gas and ignited it. The bodies were mutilated beyond recognition. The incident reportedly occurred in the wee hours. The locals witnessed smoke coming out of the house and alerted the police. Warangal Commissioner of Police Sudheer Babu said the police were investigating all angles in the case. There are a few reasons why rival parties and women organisations are suspecting foul play.

1. Sarika had reportedly written to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi urging her not to nominate her father-in-law as the party candidate from Warangal.
2. Sarika staged a sit-in in front of Rajaiah’s house recently demanding justice and action against the former lawmaker’s family.
3. She had filed a case of dowry harassment against her in-laws and her husband.
4. She had attempted to commit suicide in March 2014. However, there are unconfirmed reports doing the round that she had tried a suicide attempt even before that also.
5. Sarika’s sister Archana has alleged that Rajaiah, his wife and Anil harassed her. Though Sarika had returned to her mother’s place, she was counselled and sent back to in-law’s place. Stating that he sister was not the kind of a person to commit suicide, Archana has demanded investigation into “murder” angle also.

The former parliamentarian from Warangal was fielded by the Congress for a bypoll which was necessitated after the Kadiyam Srihari, the sitting MP from the TRS, vacated the seat upon his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana. Though Leader of the Opposition in the Telangana assembly K Jana Reddy tried to put up a brave front and said that the incident won’t impact the Congress’s prospects in the byelection, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttham Kumar Reddy acknowledged that the quadruple deaths in the residence of the party nominee are indeed a jolt to the party. Soon after the incident, Rajaiah tendered an apology to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and urged her to replace him with another contestant in Warangal.