Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), a formidable political force in Telangana until its miserable failure in the general elections last year, has decided not to contest the elections to three seats in the legislative council scheduled for February 27.
Though the BRS has no stakes in the 40-member council, the upcoming polls are crucial for all parties as they mark the beginning of a long season of elections to bodies all the way down to the grassroots level.
The BRS’s decision not to contest owed to apprehensions that the result will have a negative impact on the party’s chances in the elections to rural and urban local bodies that are to follow closely.
Also, elections are due to five more vacancies in the council from the MLAs’ quota next month.
The election to fill up one vacancy of the graduates’ constituency and two of the teachers’ constituencies have become a litmus test for the ruling Congress and for the BJP in the absence of the BRS.
A senior BRS leader who did not want to be named said the leadership obviously felt that it was not worth the risk to contest the council elections and face defeat ahead of local body elections, which are crucial for the party to keep its support base in the villages intact.
A defeat would not only give the impression that it was all over for the party, but further reduce its diminishing strength in the elected bodies with its representatives crossing over to the Congress.
Graduates’ seat ‘not safe for BRS’; questions raised on constitutionality of council
The graduates’ constituency representing Karimnagar, Adilabad, Medak and Nizamabad, in particular, is not a safe seat for the BRS as the dissatisfaction among educated youth over the unemployment situation during the BRS regime is yet to die down, the leader explained.
He also said the BRS enjoyed sympathy from farmers and beneficiaries of social security pensions due to the ‘failure’ of the Congress government to fulfil its promises on a crop loan waiver and investment support for agriculture at enhanced rates. The BRS would like to cash in on the situation, he added.
Former BRS MP B. Vinod Kumar said the party was not keen on the election to the graduates’ constituency from the start and it thus did not take up the enrolment of graduates for the election.
Many party activists who were expecting tickets to contest the elections launched an enrolment drive in their individual capacity six months ago, he added.
Kumar questioned the constitutional right of the legislative council to exist given that the state lacked the statutory 120 members in the assembly. He said the constitution had laid down that only those state assemblies that had a minimum of 120 MLAs could have an upper house. But the removal of members representing the Anglo-Indian community from legislatures by an act of parliament two years ago had taken away the council’s right to exist, he argued.
After a member of the community was withdrawn from the assembly in Telangana, the strength of the House dropped to 119.
It was precisely for the 120-member norm that the legislatures of Delhi, Goa, Uttarakhand and the northeastern states did not follow the bicameral system, he noted.
Polls to graduates’ seat a prestige issue, will also involve BJP bastion
The Congress has fielded V. Narender Reddy, who runs a college chain, for the graduates’ constituency, but has opted out of the contest for the two teachers’ constituencies.
On the other hand, the BJP is contesting all three seats.
The election is a matter of prestige for the Congress in the graduates’ constituency as the seat is currently held by the party. The incumbent MLC of the Congress, T. Jeevan Reddy, has opted out of the contest after consecutive defeats in assembly and general elections.
The election will be a barometer to judge the Congress’s strength among educated youth and the middle class over a year after the party rode to power with the promise of employment opportunities.
It will also be important to see how the Congress will face the challenge of the BJP on its home turf. Karimnagar became the stronghold of the BJP after its candidate Bandi Sanjay Kumar, now a Union minister of state, had won the last two general elections from here.
The elections to the teachers’ constituencies are not in much focus because they are related mainly to teachers’ unions. Against this background, the Congress kept away from the contest, but the BJP gave tickets to noted educationist Malka Komaraiah and another leader in the sector Sarottam Reddy.
In the 40-member council, the Congress has six members officially, but nine members from the BRS, including chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy, switched over to the Congress.
All but three members of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the BJP used to belong to the BRS two years ago. After desertions, the BRS’s strength was reduced to 20.
This depletion in the party’s strength was said to be another reason for the lack of interest among the BRS leadership to contest the elections.
However, it remains to be seen whether the party will put up candidates for elections to fill up five vacancies in the council from the MLAs’ quota next month. With a strength in the assembly of just under 30, the BRS can hope to win at least one seat, but whether it will opt out fearing cross-voting remains to be seen, according to party sources.
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With rural body elections around the corner, BC representation also in picture
With the notification for polls to over 12,000 gram panchayats, involving 1.67 crore electors, expected any day after February 15, the state is set for a long spell of elections before board examinations for Class 10 students commence on March 21.
As many as 538 zilla parishads and 5,817 mandal parishads will also go to polls.
While the elections will be on a non-party basis for panchayats, party symbols come into play for the zilla and mandal parishads, paving the way for another round of political slugfest in rural areas.
They will be followed by elections to nine municipal corporations and 120 municipalities.
The BRS has already commenced meetings with its cadre to highlight what it says are the Congress’s failures. The latter party at the same time is taking rapid strides to corner the vote bank of the backward classes (BCs), whose population was estimated to comprise 53.66% of the state by a recent survey by the government.
The BRS and the BJP have derided the government, saying the survey indicated that BCs’ population had come down, but the Congress has claimed otherwise.
The Congress had promised 42% reservation for BCs in local bodies, but since it may not be possible due to the 50% ceiling on quotas, it was expected that the party would give tickets to aspirants corresponding to 42%. This in effect will considerably boost the number of BC members in elected bodies.
Kodanda Reddy, a senior Congress leader who is chairman of the Telangana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Commission, questioned the right of the BRS to contest the figures on BCs when it was not contesting elections.
He recalled that the BRS opted out despite being the main opposition party in the assembly and having ruled the state for ten years.
