Some of the MLAs dropped from the candidates list have openly revolted, while others are trying to come to grips with reality.
Published Aug 30, 2023 | 11:00 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 30, 2023 | 11:00 AM
Six of the seven dropped MLAs are creating trouble or evaluating their options.
The BRS in Telangana is going through an initial, and inevitable, period of pain. Dissidence has spiked in many constituencies after party supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao announced candidates for 115 of the 119 Assembly segments in the state for the year-end elections.
The main trouble is coming from six of the seven MLAs who have been dropped. Some of them have openly revolted, while others are trying to come to grips with reality, or evaluating their options.
When the list of BRS candidates was announced on 21 August, nine seats saw fresh faces, including KCR fielding himself in a second constituency, Kamareddy.
In Korutla, Kamareddy, and Secunderabad Cantonment, there is no scope for any dissidence as at Kamareddy it is KCR who is contesting, at Secunderabad Cantonment, it is Lasya, the daughter of the deceased MLA, and at Kortula, it is sitting MLA Vidyasagar Rao’s son Dr Sanjay.
Of the remaining six, the dropped MLAs have gone into silent mode in Wyra, Asifabad, Boath, and Vemulawada.
The party is facing a problem in the remaining two constituencies — Station Ghanpur and Khanapur — where the sitting MLAs feel as though a calamity has befallen them rather than considering it as a setback in public life.
The sitting MLAs who were not included in the BRS list are:
In Station Ghanpur, sitting MLA Dr T Rajaiah is upset over his bete noir and MLC Kadiaym Srihari being nominated for the seat.
After Srihari’s name was announced, Rajaiah broke down. Wailing inconsolably at the feet of a Dr BR Ambedkar statue in the town, he cursed his misfortune.
He, however, called KCR his God and felt unhappy over the turn of events. Though he is now sullen and withdrawn, he has not yet made his course of action public.
In Khanapur, Ajmeera Rekha Naik has prepared the ground to join the Congress after she was dropped by KCR who brought in Bhukya Johnson Rathod Naik, an NRI, and one who has a good rapport with BRS working president KT Rama Rao.
Rekha and her husband Shyam have applied for Congress tickets for Khanapur and Asifabad, a neighbouring constituency.
In Asifabad, sitting MLA Atram Sakku, who has been dropped, is now cooling his heels. It is said KCR had offered him the Adilabad Lok Sabha seat to him in compensation for not being renominated.
As he is one of the 12 Congress MLAs who had defected to the BRS after winning in the 2018 elections, the doors are shut for them to join the grand old party. For the moment, he is keeping a low profile.
In Boath, Anil Jadhav is the new BRS candidate in place of sitting MLA Rathod Babu Rao who came low in surveys that KCR had conducted.
Rathod Babu Rao is lying low now, trying to get Dalit Bandhu and BC Bandhu benefits to the beneficiaries before his term comes to an end. He may look for a future in the Congress, going forward.
In Wyra, though sitting MLA L Ramulu Naik is upset after he was dropped and former MLA Madan Lal was brought in, he has not raised a banner of revolt and, on the contrary, has said he would abide by the party decision.
He won the 2018 election as an independent and then joined the BRS the same year in December in the presence of party working president KTR.
He described his exclusion as a bitter development but he said it was but natural that one feels pain when one does not get what one wants.
“I honour our leader KCR’s decision as he knows who is the right candidate for a seat as he always examines an issue from all angles before taking a decision,” he said.
In Vemulawada, Ch Lakshmi Narasimha Rao was fielded in place of sitting MLA Chennamananei Ramesh on account of the latter’s citizenship issue.
At the time of the announcement of candidates, KCR said he felt sorry for not being able to renominate Ramesh and that it was because the high court had yet to dispose of the citizenship issue before it.
To compensate for his loss, KCR appointed him as the advisor to the government on agriculture with Cabinet rank, but reports suggest that MLA was not happy over the “second best” offer. He has not made it clear what he would do going forward, but the decision did not go down well with him.
Apart from these six segments, there are also rumblings in other constituencies where aspirants who hoped to get tickets were left in the lurch.
For instance, in Palair, KCR has fielded sitting MLA K Upender Reddy who won on a Congress ticket in 2018 and later joined the BRS.
Former minister Thummala Nageswara Rao is not able to recover from the shock as he had been given to understand that he would be fielded from Palair for quite some time now.
He organised a show of strength in Khammam recently, asking the BRS leaders to sit up and wonder if it was a wise decision for the party to drop him.
In Malakjgiri, though the sitting MLA Mynapalli Hanumnath Rao was fielded, he was unhappy with the party for not nominating his son Rohit from Medak where KCR had announced the renomination of sitting T MLA Padmaja Devender Reddy.
As he used intemperate language against Finance Minister T Harish Rao, holding him responsible for the denial of the ticket to his son, the party leadership is contemplating action against him. Going forward, the party may face trouble from him both in Malkajgiri and Medak.
There is already trouble in Narsapur and Jangaon, two of the four seats for which candidates have not yet been announced. The remaining two are Nampally and Goshamahal.
After KCR kept Narsapur pending, sitting MLA Madan Reddy, in a show of strength, led a procession to Finance Minister Harish Rao and pleaded with him to see that he gets renominated.
But indications are that the KCR will field Sunitha Lakshma Reddy, who is now the chairman of Telangana State Women’s Commission. She is also very keen on contesting the election on the BRS ticket.
In respect of Jangaon, tempers are running high between sitting MLA Muthireddy Yadagiri Reddy and Rythu Samanvya Samiti chairman Palla Rajeswar Reddy who wants to contest for the Assembly from there.
Yadagiri Reddy flew into a rage at Palla recently after the latter called the Congress MLAs who joined the BRS after the 2018 elections dogs. He was captured on video stating that KCR had manoeuvred them into the BRS to keep the dogs from barking.
Though Yadagiri Reddy was not a Congress MLA who joined the BRS, he used Palla’s comments to hit back at him saying his comments were unwarranted as all those who joined the BRS from the Congress were now BRS MLAs.
In Mulugu, after KCR nominated Bade Naga Jyothy, acting chairperson of the zilla parishad, former minister Ajmeera Chandulal’s son Prahlad was upset.
He is consulting his supporters and party workers on his future course of action. The seat is held by Congress MLA D Anasuya alias Seethakka who is very popular among the tribals in her constituency.
