Why fielding more BC candidates will be a tough task for Telangana Congress

He agreed that the rule cannot be strictly implemented in all the Lok Sabha constituencies. In some constituencies, many segments may have been reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs/ STs).

For instance, in the Mahabubabad Lok Sabha constituency, six out of the seven segments are reserved for STs. In such constituencies it is not possible to allot the lone unreserved segment to a BC candidate as there could be candidates from other castes seeking the ticket, he said.

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Revanth Reddy formula

He opined that the election and screening committees should ensure that the average figure of two BC candidates in each Lok Sabha constituency is maintained.

In the 2014 Assembly elections, the Congress nominated 32 BC candidates, but the number fell to 24 in 2018, and the result was disastrous.

Of the 119 Assembly seats, 31 are reserved for SCs and STs, and in about 35 seats, seniors who belong to non-BC castes have to be accommodated due to their high chances of winning the polls. It leaves only 66 seats for BCs and others.

This apart, no BC leader has applied for party tickets in 11 Assembly seats, which means that there would be no BC leader for 77 seats. Of the remaining 42, the BC leaders are asking for 34 seats though it is way less in proportion to their population.

It was TPCC president A Revanth Reddy who proposed allotting tickets to BCs for two Assembly segments in each of the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies which worked out to 34 seats.

But the non-BC leaders, who are eyeing more seats, wonder whether allotting tickets to BCs in 34 seats would be disastrous since not many BC leaders could win the elections.

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The Reddy factor

The Reddys would likely seek a good number of the 34 BC seats. For instance, of the seven Assembly segments, only Devarakonda has been reserved for STs in the Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency. The remaining are general seats and the Reddys are eyeing all six.

In Nagarjuna Sagar and Miryalaguda, sons of Jana Reddy have applied for tickets. In Huzurnagar and Kodada, Uttam Kumar Reddy and his wife Padmavathi are vying for party tickets, while Suryapet has to go to Ramreddy Damodar Reddy and Nalgonda to Kotmatireddy Venkata Reddy.

Venkata Reddy expressed willingness to give up his claim in favour of a BC candidate. He held that it would not help the BC cause since others would not follow suit in the rest of the constituencies.

The situation in Khammam is more complicated. Of the seven segments in the Khammam Lok Sabha constituency, only three are general seats. Paleru and Khammam would have to go to Thummala Nageswara Rao and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, which leaves only Kothagudem. It might go to the CPI as part of the INDIA bloc.

In the Mahbubabad Lok Sabha constituency, only Narasampet is a general seat, but non-BCs, too, are demanding the seat.

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BCs want 50 tickets

The situation in the other Lok Sabha constituencies is more or less similar. There are only 18 to 20 BC leaders in the 90 Assembly segments who could be called winning horses, Congress sources said.

But BC leaders recently submitted a memorandum to the TPCC urging it to allot 50 Assembly seats —  which may be next to impossible.

With KCR allotting 23 sets to BCs, the Congress would have to allot more to enlist their support. But the fear of the BC candidates losing the elections is haunting the party leaders since leadership qualities and resources are what make or mar an election.

Revanth Reddy has been saying that BCs would get a better representation this time. “We’ll accord priority to the BCs,” he recently told journalists.

Former Congress MP Ponnam Prabhakar, too, is hopeful that BCs will be accommodated better this time. If the Congress follows Revanth Reddy’s formula, the gamble might work.