Restructure with ‘right people’ or fade away, Telangana Legislative Council chairman warns BRS

Besides losing to Congress at the November-end Assembly polls, the BRS was being rocked by the migration of senior leaders to other parties.

Also Read: KCR tells cadre to await return of his Telangana hero avatar

Appointment denied

Sukhender Reddy has been miffed with the BRS leadership over the denial of the Nalgonda seat to his son Amit Reddy.

However, he said his disillusionment with the BRS was over the party not taking him on board while making important decisions — and not over the Nalgonda ticket.

Speaking to media persons at his residence at Vurumadla village in Nalgonda’s Chityal Mandal, Sukhender Reddy said he could not get KCR’s appointment for six months before the Assembly elections.

He had personally requested time when he met the former chief minister at some functions, but he did not get any invitation for a meeting.

The Council chairman and the BRS leadership lacked a realistic view of what was happening in the party and hence paid the price.

Also Read: KCR will turn into cinders if he tries to touch Congress MLAs, warns Revanth Reddy

Former ministers blamed

The party was not doing well in some districts, especially, Khammam, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, and Mahbubnagar because the gulf between the party workers and (the former) ministers representing the districts widened over a period.

The ministers became a law unto themselves and became arrogant, he alleged.

Sukhender Reddy said that the factors that led to the BRS’s fall in the Assembly election were a lack of honest review of the party’s structure and preparedness in facing the polls.

He claimed that he had provided suggestions to KCR on building the party during his first innings as chief minister. But he changed after winning the Assembly elections for the second time in 2018.

The Council leader said it was appalling that KCR avoided a proper review of the party’s performance after its debacle in the Assembly elections.

Though his intent was not to criticise KCR, he was speaking up because if KCR did not take corrective measures, the party would suffer more damage.

Also Read: Former BRS MLA Bethi Subhas Reddy joins BJP

No plan to switch loyalty

Debunking the criticism that he had turned against the BRS even though the party had taken care of him and his family well, he said that he was not excited about BRS when he joined the party.

It was KCR who was after him to join the BRS. “He offered me a berth in his Cabinet after easing out the late Nayani Narasimha Reddy but the promise remained unkept,” he claimed.

Sukhender Reddy said that it was not because of anyone’s generosity that he had landed positions in the party. He refuted rumours that he was contemplating switching parties.

He also dismissed the campaign against him that he had conspired against other leaders in the Nalgonda district by spreading canards about them.

“Though I had sought an appointment with KCR for six months I could not get it. Where is the scope for me to talk ill of others with him,” he asked.

He dismissed as baseless reports that he was upset with the party because it decided in favour of Kancherla Krishna Reddy as the party’s candidate in the Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat.

He said he politely refused the offer of a ticket for his son and blamed some forces in the district that were working against his interests.

(Edited by Majnu Babu).